By Bonke Dumisa
Did you know that bringing two engineering graduates from two universities to work together has helped to resolve the load-shedding problem?
I am not saying this because I happen to be a former academic and an alumnus of both the University of Durban-Westville and the University of KwaZulu-Natal; but because it is true that both Dr Kgosientsho Sputla Ramokgopa, the Minister of Electricity, and Mteto Nyathi, the chairperson of Eskom, got their engineering undergraduate degrees in KwaZulu-Natal; Dr Ramokgopa got his undergraduate engineering degree at the erstwhile University of Durban-Westville (UDW), and Mteto Nyathi iBhele, as his clan say, got his undergraduate BSc degree at the erstwhile University of Natal.
The two universities merged in 2003 to form the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
Eskom strengthened its policy oversight by having more credible suitably qualified people appointed to its board, under the leadership of a seasoned corporate leader Mteto Nyathi, who previously served as the CEO of MTN and Altron. To strengthen the operational side of Eskom, they appointed Dan Marokane as group managing director (CEO). Marokane holds a chemical engineering degree from UCT and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from London.
