The man at the steering wheel of the National Electricity Regulator (NER), Dr Xolani Mkhwanazi, has asked not to have his contract renewed.
The nuclear physicist, who has also spent time at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, is currently in India and has not explained his decision to leave the company he has headed since 1999.
Minerals and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the board of the NER have said they have accepted Mkhwanazi’s decision not to avail himself for another term as CEO of the NER. He is expected to leave at the end of April.
”The board and the CEO have worked constructively as a team over the past years and the board is sorry to see his departure,” said board chairperson Colin Matjila.
”Dr Mkhwanazi will, no doubt, continue to make a great contribution to the energy sector and to development in South Africa. Hopefully, he will be able to continue a close association with the NER as it assumes its expanded mandate in regulating not only electricity, but also gas and petroleum pipelines,” Matjila added.
Mkhwanazi said in a statement he was happy to have worked with the NER and the broader electricity supply industry within South Africa and the continent, and said he leaves a strong organisation on good terms.
Mkhwanazi’s claim to fame is the development of relationships with key stakeholders within the industry while developing regulatory bodies within the country and other parts of the continent.
He is currently president of the African Forum of Utility Regulators and chairperson of the South African Utility Regulators Association. — Sapa