SO, BOBBY Godsell was right all along. Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga did resign on October 28, as Godsell reported. This, just now, from the Eskom board itself, sans, obviously, Godsell himself. He resigned as chairman last Monday, complaining the government wouldn’t back the board’s view that Maroga had, in fact, resigned.

No he didn’t cried the ANC Brat League. Show us the letter! Where’s the letter!

Er, actually Brat League, in business — or at least in business conducted with integrity (look it up) a verbal agreement is a deal. If Maroga said he would resign, then he resigned. That’s how the productive part of the world works. The leech part (your part) waits for written proof.

The Eskom board, in fact the entire company, is now being led by acting chairman Mpho Makwana until a new CEO and a new chairman are found. The board announced this morning that Maroga was no longer CEO and that he had departed without a golden handshake. Good.

But if replacing Maroga and Godsell is up to the government Makwana could be in place for ages. He’s a terrific and principled guy and a former Business Day columnist but he would be the first to recognise that running Eskom would not be in his skills set.

Godsell must be brought back as soon as possible. Here is a man who has had more than a year to gain an intimate knowlege of the Eskom group and its challenges. A few weeks ago he had a plan and presented it to the board and the board bought it (and rejected a rival one from Maroga). Now they must get him back to implement it. For his part, it would be outrageous of Godsell not to accept an invitation to return, given the support he has been swamped with in the past few days.

(By the way, if you want to read what Maroga presented to the board you can find it on the Mail & Guardian website — its an absolute disappointment from someone tasked, basically, with saving our economy. It just seems, from reading it, that he didn’t comprehend what he was up against, what we are up against.)

Eskom has just reported a R9bn loss. It is in the middle of a massive build programme. It is losing skills. It is losing black skills. It cannot ram through the tarriff increases it thinks it needs. It must mean it is running out of money.

Godsell resigning would have concentrated the presidential mind wonderfully. But let’s repeat that for JZ. Sir, Eskom is running out of cash!

It needs, super urgently, to repair its balance sheet. Without that it can’t go to the markets to raise money to help fund the build programme. There was a time when Eskom debt was eagerly sought in the bond markets, particularly. Not now, so much. You fix that with a sound balance sheet and positive cash flow.

You also need someone of Godsell’s stature to lead a roadshow around the world that would restore confidence in Eskom and indeed (after the scrap of the past few weeks) the country. Perhaps Bobby should get to choose his CEO when he gets back.

You could do a lot worse than look around for a graduate of the NUM college that has produced black leaders of the calibre that stood up to the Brat League and the spineless Black Management Forum when they were baying ‘racist’ at Godsell. Eskom’s got a monopoly on expertise. What it needs as CEO is a leader.

Cheers

**Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan made it clear on Radio 702 this morning that she was going to meet Godsell this weekend and invite him back to take up the chair at Eskom. That is excellent news and it would be outrageous if he declined.

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