Eskom Company
The company that anticipated the history.
The company that read the future.
Background:
The Government Gazette of 6 March 1923 announced the
establishment of The Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom), effective from 1
March 1923. Dry Hendrix Johannes van der Bill, a leading research scientist
appointed by the Smuts government as a "Technical Advisor on Industrial
Development to the Department of Mines and Industries", was appointed
first Chairman of Eskom. The Commission was made responsible for establishing
and maintaining electricity supply undertakings on a regional basis.
Electricity was to be supplied efficiently, cheaply and abundantly to
government departments, railways and harbors, local authorities and industry.
The Commission met for the first time on 20 March 1923 in Cape Town. The
Commission’s headquarters opened in Johannesburg on 1 May 1923 on the first story
of Hoffman’s Buildings. The headquarters moved to Electricity House in 1924. (“About - Company Information." Heritage. Nap. nod
Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://heritage.eskom.co.za/heritage
Eskom generates approximately 95% of the electricity
used in South Africa and approximately 45% of the electricity used in Africa.
Eskom generates, transmits and distributes electricity to industrial, mining,
commercial, agricultural and residential customers and redistributors.
Additional power stations and major power lines are being built to meet rising
electricity demand in South Africa. Eskom will continue to focus on improving and
strengthening its core business of electricity generation, transmission,
trading and distribution.
During the 1980s period, South Africa was still
under the apartheid's regime, and it was not permitted “according to the racist
legislations “to provide the electricity for everyone in south Africa and of
course the blacks were the target.
But from its first day the company adopted a very
impressive and challenging mandate which is “electricity for all” , it believed
that without electricity is the base of living life because without it there
will be no education , there will be diseases everywhere and also the living in
homes without electricity cannot be possible especially during the adverse
weather.
This social responsibility which has been embraced
by the company, allowed it to play a very significant role in establishing the
social transformation in South Africa. (“The Company that Anticipated
History." Policy Innovations. Nap. nod Web. 11 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas).
The vision and strategy
Purpose
To provide sustainable electricity solutions to grow
the economy and improve the quality of life of people in South Africa and the
region.
Values: Zero
harm, integrity, innovation, sinobuntu (caring), customer satisfaction and
excellence.
Priorities and contributions:
2010 FIFA World Cup™: Eskom made a significant contribution to the
successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™
Back2Basics
project: Eskom has implemented a “Back2Basics” programmer across all business units
to enable effective decision making and improve operational performance by
simplifying, standardizing and optimizing processes and systems
Corporate review: This project entails analyzing
corporate functions, benchmarking this against similar institutions and
identifying possibilities for rationalization within existing operations. This
project aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate
functions.
Reputation
management: The objective is to stem the flow of negative media coverage in the
short term and recover and turn around Eskom’s image and reputation in the long
term, while at the same time gearing Eskom’s corporate communication strategy
Generation
Business: Over the past year the aim was to add new capacity, manage existing
plant, strive for cost efficiencies, and focus on operational excellence and
safety
Customer
Network Business: The objective was to integrate demand management across
Eskom, improve revenue management, sign power purchase agreements, and
facilitate the national integrated resource plan
Participation
in subcommittee of Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Energy: Government
established the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Energy to address the key
challenges in the electricity industry and to facilitate progress towards an
optimal regulatory and policy environment – one that is credible, predictable,
legitimate and transparent. Eskom is providing input into this important
process.
Ethics
in Eskom
Ethics in Eskom is about accomplishing preferred
ethical behaviors by living the Eskom values through its Code of Ethics,
complying with laws and regulations, and taking into account the interests of
all stakeholders in its actions and decisions. Eskom’s processes and practices
are based on good corporate governance practices, which are underpinned by the
ethical values of responsibility, accountability, fairness, and transparency.
Eskom has established an ethics office within its
Corporate Governance Department to maintain an ethics programmer within the
Eskom, which promotes ethical behavior within the workplace through the
development and implementation of ethical standards, rules and frameworks for
the organization, and by providing an ethics advisory service (helpline), as
well as ethics training to employees and directors. Eskom’s programmer is also
externally focused, encouraging anyone acting on behalf of Eskom or conducting
business with Eskom to commit to the highest standard of ethical conduct in all
actions and decisions.
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