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Cape Town – Acting Eskom CEO Matshela Koko has waged a pro-nuclear and anti-renewable energy media battle in 2016, making him a controversial choice, according to Greenpeace.
Greenpeace Africa is strongly opposed to the news of Koko’s appointment as acting CEO, Melita Steele, senior climate and energy campaign manager for Greenpeace Africa, said in a statement on Thursday.
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown made the announcement on Wednesday, saying Koko “has a wealth of experience and understands the challenges Eskom faces”.
However, Steele said Koko has spent the past year “creating a significant profile in the media - seemingly aimed entirely at pushing a pro-nuclear agenda, and discrediting and undermining the crucial role that renewable energy is playing in the South African energy sector”.
“Koko’s approach can only be termed as an anti-renewable energy campaign,” she said. “This is completely unacceptable as a choice for acting Eskom CEO.”
“More now than ever before, it is essential that South Africans take a critical view of the supposed ‘facts’ presented by Eskom officials such as Matshela Koko, as vested interests continue to control the energy sector.
“If Eskom wishes to serve in the best interests of all South Africans, it must abandon its anti-renewable energy agenda and restructure itself to take on investments in the renewable energy sector, while moving away from destructive, expensive and unnecessary coal and nuclear energy.
“The importance of the choice of Eskom’s CEO cannot be underestimated, and Greenpeace calls on Minister Lynne Brown to ensure that a permanent, non-divisive CEO is found quickly.
“Matshela Koko is clearly not that person, and Greenpeace Africa will vigorously oppose any moves to make him Eskom’s permanent CEO.”
Read some of the stories Koko has written on Fin24 this year:
