The extension of Mteto Nyati’s term as chairperson of the Eskom Board has brought renewed attention to a role that is often noticed only when institutions are under pressure.
Eskom has announced that his term will continue for a further three years from 1 November 2026. Nyati first joined the Board through a Cabinet-approved appointment in 2022 and later became chairperson in 2023. His continued tenure now coincides with Eskom’s transition from recovery towards longer-term operational, financial and market reform.
The interest in the appointment is understandable. Eskom remains one of South Africa’s most consequential institutions. Its performance affects households, businesses, investment, public finances and national confidence. Leadership at board level therefore carries unusual weight, and the appointment of a chairperson deserves scrutiny that reaches beyond biography, reputation and public familiarity.
Nyati brings a substantial executive record. He has led MTN South Africa and Altron, and Eskom describes his experience as including technology and turnaround strategy. Those credentials are relevant because a chairperson must understand enough of the organisation to guide the board intelligently, recognise emerging risks and ask difficult questions.
Chairing requires its own discipline. Operational leadership rests with management, while the chairperson leads the governing body and creates the conditions in which collective judgement can work.
That relationship sits at the centre of effective governance. The chief executive needs enough space to lead, while the board requires sufficient visibility to oversee, challenge and hold management accountable.
The chairperson stands between these responsibilities, shaping the quality of engagement between the two. Trust, access to information, candour and clarity of roles all matter because weak boundaries can leave a board either too intrusive or too remote from the institution it governs.
King V gives this role particular prominence. It recommends that the chairperson of a governing body should be an independent non-executive member and places emphasis on objective, ethical and effective governance.
The Institute of Directors in South Africa describes the chairperson as responsible for shaping board culture, facilitating robust debate, encouraging constructive challenge, managing board dynamics and helping the board make decisions in the best interests of the organisation.
That description goes to the heart of chairing. Effective board leadership depends heavily on the environment the chair creates.
Directors should be able to disagree without the board descending into dysfunction, raise uncomfortable questions without being marginalised and reconsider their views without losing standing.
A board may appear harmonious while becoming intellectually weak when scrutiny is discouraged. The chairperson has significant influence over whether the board becomes a place of genuine judgement or a forum for formal approval.
The first governance test of a chairperson is competence and judgement. Technical expertise has value, yet the role demands a wider understanding of the organisation’s business model, strategic environment, principal risks, legal obligations and stakeholder landscape.
King V also emphasises the need for an appropriate mix of competencies, diversity and independence across the governing body. The chairperson must know how to draw on that collective capability so that individual expertise contributes to board judgement.
A second test is independence of mind. This becomes especially important in state-owned entities, where government is the shareholder and appointments arise through public-authority processes. Nyati’s entry onto the Eskom Board followed Cabinet approval, while his latest continuation as chairperson was announced by the Minister of Electricity and Energy.
These arrangements make role clarity especially important. The chair must engage constructively with the shareholder, understand legitimate policy expectations and preserve the board’s duty to exercise objective judgement in the interests of the organisation.
Public ownership creates a distinctive governance environment because political authority, shareholder expectations, fiduciary responsibility and executive management can converge around the same institution.
A strong chairperson helps keep those lines visible. The board should understand the shareholder’s mandate while preserving its own judgement, and management should receive clear strategic direction without becoming subject to competing centres of operational authority.
The third test lies in board leadership itself. A capable chairperson has to draw value from every director and prevent the board from revolving around a dominant personality. This requires preparation, emotional maturity, procedural fairness and the ability to distinguish genuine dissent from obstruction.
It also requires attention to the quality and timing of the information placed before directors, since independent judgement is difficult when a board is poorly informed.
Role clarity provides a fourth test. A chairperson can influence what enters the board agenda, the depth with which risks are interrogated, the tone of engagement with management and the manner in which disagreement is resolved.
That influence should strengthen oversight and accountability while preserving management’s responsibility to execute. The discipline lies in knowing when to probe, when to insist, when to support and when to allow executives to carry out their mandate.
The fifth test is continuity and succession. Eskom has said Nyati’s extension provides governance and leadership continuity as the utility advances operational and financial sustainability, energy security and market reforms.
Continuity can preserve institutional memory and strategic coherence during periods of transition. It should also leave the institution less dependent on particular personalities over time. King V’s emphasis on succession planning is therefore important. A strong chairperson helps build a board that is capable, confident and prepared for its next leadership transition.
Eskom’s recent progress also needs to be understood institutionally. The utility reported a full year without load-shedding in May 2026, while the Minister attributed improvements in performance to the work of the board, management and employees. This is a useful governance reminder. A chairperson can influence direction, discipline and accountability, while operational recovery depends on an institution’s collective capability and execution.
There is also a danger in attaching institutional recovery too closely to a single individual. Governance becomes fragile when confidence in an organisation depends heavily on the reputation or presence of one chairperson.
Sustainable governance should survive changes in personalities, leadership and political circumstances because the systems, board culture and institutional capability have become strong enough to endure.
A broader lesson also lies in the way chairpersons are selected for public entities.
Nqobani Mzizi is a professional accountant, governance practitioner and academic.