Skills in Eskom
Attracting and retaining appropriately skilled staff is central
to ensuring a reliable and secured electricity system. As we
accelerated this massive capacity expansion programme, we have
also intensified our efforts to bring more skilled people into the
organisation. Core, critical and scarce skills have been identified
with particular attention given to these priority areas. We know
that major build projects are happening in other parts of the
world, and as such Eskom competes for the same skills set. This
is why the Eskom resourcing strategy had to be all encompassing
addressing, among others, training and development, recruitment,
succession management, retention and incentives, and pipelining.
The total staff composition of Eskom has shown a net growth of
2 208 over the reporting year following national and international
recruitment campaigns. A programme to attract retired Eskom
employees with needed skills is also proving successful.
Eskom remains committed to developing its employee value
proposition to ensure it remains an employer of choice.
Safety
As a caring employer, we are committed to providing and
maintaining a safe working environment for our employees and contractors. Despite significant efforts, our occupational, health
and safety remains unsatisfactory in that Eskom did not meet its
target of zero fatalities for the reporting year.
It is with great sadness that I have to report the deaths of
17 Eskom employees and 12 contract workers in the past year.
These fatalities were mainly due to vehicle accidents and electrical
contacts. Of the eight Eskom vehicle fatalities seven have sadly
been due to third parties. Safety is and will always remain one of
the top priorities in our business.
Contribution to society
Corporate social investment (CSI) forms an integral par t of
the way Eskom does business. Various CSI programmes are
executed through Eskom’s support to government’s rural
development programme, its contribution to the Accelerated
Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa) and through
the development work done by the Eskom Foundation. I am
proud to say that we have made meaningful contributions to
many communities around our build projects and elsewhere
in the country, and we will continue to do so for years to
come.
In conclusion
Ensuring the security of supply at a time when the power system
has an inadequate reserve margin will remain a key challenge
for South Africa, the electricity sector, and Eskom. We accept
that the load shedding activities of the magnitude seen in recent
times have dented South Africa’s confidence in the power system
and in Eskom. We have made the commitment to regain public
confidence in the system. In this regard, all our work towards
re-building trust will be based on open, honest and transparent
sharing of information.
For the next five years at least, the South African power system
will remain vulnerable given the low reserve margin. Plans are
in place, and implementation has been accelerated. We are confident that the activities we are undertaking today – as Eskom,
the energy sector, government, and the country at large – will
enhance Eskom’s ability to deliver into the future.
Acknowledgements
The past year has been a testimony to the old adage “through
adversity comes strength”. We are heartened by South Africa’s
response, especially when asked to conserve electricity. We
are also grateful to all who have made a contribution to the
work of the organisation during the past year.
Our employees have been and remain indispensable to our
organisation. I would like to pay a special tribute to all of the
men and women of Eskom for their loyalty, dedication and
commitment to the task at hand.
A word of appreciation goes to the Ministers of Public Enterprises
and Minerals and Energy and their respective departments for
their leadership and guidance through this difficult time.
Our appreciation also goes to members of the Portfolio
Committee, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa,
Nedlac stakeholders, key industrial customers, municipacilities,
and the broader South African public.
We are confident that together, we will rise to the challenge.
Jacob Maroga
Chief executive |
