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Cape Town – Public Enterprises Lynne Brown is sad to lose someone of Eskom CEO Brian Molefe’s calibre, her spokesperson Colin Cruywagen said.
Speaking to Fin24 by phone on Friday, Cruywagen said: “He (Molefe) was pivotal in turning Eskom around.
Molefe on Friday shocked the country when he issued a statement, announcing he would he leave the power utility with effect from 1 January 2017.
In a statement issued later, Brown said although she is "saddened" by Molefe's resignation she respects his decision to do so.
“Mr Molefe has been instrumental in developing Eskom’s turnaround strategy which is beginning to yield positive results and it is disappointing that he will not be present to see it to complete fruition."
She reassured the country that as Eskom's "Shareholder Representative", she will work closely with the Eskom board to ensure that the company remains stable.
“I am confident that Mr Molefe leaves a strong executive team in place to continue to deliver on Eskom’s mandate and implementation of the turn-around strategy. He leaves the company at a time when Eskom’s mid-term results showed an improvement.
“The mid-term results released last week showed that Eskom’s liquidity improved; revenue increased by 10.5% year-on-year to R97.1 billion; the accelerated maintenance programme improved plant availability from 71.23% to 78.50%; unplanned breakdowns improved from 14.75% 9.72%; and we have had 460 days without load shedding.
“Furthermore, Eskom managed to connect 99 869 households to the grid for the period under review and the company must be congratulated for connecting more households in 22 years of democracy to the grid than the previous 70 years of minority rule."
Brown wished Molefe well in his future endeavours.
READ: FULL STATEMENT: Eskom CEO Brian Molefe resigns
Molefe was first appointed in an acting capacity in March 2015 and his contract was made permanent in September in the same year.
The Public Enterprises Minister has on many occasions praised Molefe for his skill and his ability to turn state-owned enterprises around.
READ: Eskom regrets Molefe's exit, says it's a great loss
Known in government and business circles as “Mr Fix It” for the way he managed the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Transnet, which he had headed up in the past, Molefe managed to rid South Africa from load shedding.
READ: TIMELINE: Brian Molefe's career so far
In July this year, Molefe said at an interim financial results briefing there had been no load shedding in South Africa since July 2015.
He cited stability at the Eskom board and management levels as among the reasons which improved the operations at the power utility.
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