Listen "Eskom’s new chair makes coal costs first target"
Episode Synopsis
Mpho Makwana, the new chair of Eskom, has backed incumbent CEO Andre de Ruyter and set his sights on bringing down the price of electricity by reducing the cost of coal supplied to its plants while also improving the quality of the fuel it receives.
In an interview with Business Times this week, Makwana spoke about the link between Eskom’s climate commitments and the cost of coal supplied to the company. The vast majority of Eskom’s power-generating plants are fired by coal — most of them have outdated, less efficient emission-filtration systems — and the state-owned company has come under particular scrutiny in light of SA’s global commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
“The reality is that we will have to fulfil our climate-change reduction commitments in line with what the country is capable of delivering, given where we are,” Makwana said.
One of SA’s advantages, he pointed out, was that “the quality of our coal is low in sulphur content”. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In an interview with Business Times this week, Makwana spoke about the link between Eskom’s climate commitments and the cost of coal supplied to the company. The vast majority of Eskom’s power-generating plants are fired by coal — most of them have outdated, less efficient emission-filtration systems — and the state-owned company has come under particular scrutiny in light of SA’s global commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
“The reality is that we will have to fulfil our climate-change reduction commitments in line with what the country is capable of delivering, given where we are,” Makwana said.
One of SA’s advantages, he pointed out, was that “the quality of our coal is low in sulphur content”. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
More episodes of the podcast Sunday Times Politics Weekly
Nomvula Mokonyane on political awakening, GNU, Zuma’s ‘betrayal’ and presidential ambitions
13/09/2025
An eroded NEC – Malusi Gigaba speaks out
16/08/2025
‘All my office furniture was made by prisoners’: Groenewald pushes for hard labour, deportations
07/08/2025
The cost of protest in South Africa
20/03/2025
How the ANC in Gauteng will be fixed
08/03/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.