Johannesburg’s City Power chief executive Mogwailane Mohlala will leave the utility in January, a spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
”His contract will end in January,” Sol Masolo said.
”He wants to pursue business interests and an agreement was reached with the board,” Masolo told the South African Press Association.
A brief statement from board chairperson Niven Pillay said: ”The board will appoint a transitional executive who will understudy the incumbent CEO during the balance of his contract period.”
The announcement comes shortly after the National Electricity Regulator released a report critical of the company and repeated power outages in the city.
It also expressed concern about the company’s administration, saying it lacked a ”credible paper trail and records”, that there was evidence of non-adherence to works procedures, that sites and substations were not being properly maintained and that there was a negative impact on the environment.
”The NER is of the opinion that the City Power network is in a serious state of disrepair,” the report said.
City Power countered that it would complain about the report saying it contained inaccuracies. It said it had spent R450-million on upgrading and refurbishing the supply network in the financial year of 2004/05 and this was set to increase to R675-million for 2005/06.
A profile by reporter Thomas Thale on the company’s website says that before his appointment to City Power in 2001, Mohlala rose through the ranks at Eskom from being a security guard to customer regional service manager for the North West, Northern Cape and Free State while completing a bachelor of administration through correspondence.
He is credited with turning the company’s fortunes around from an ”indifferent” profit and is quoted as saying he used a ”streetwise management style” and ”thought on his feet”.
He said he was proud of the company’s black economic empowerment achievements.
The company has come under fire from many city residents for problems in its billing system. – Sapa