Bring back South African skills - Sir Mick Davis to Andre de Ruyter

[Jan]

De Ruyter must bring back South African skills — Former Eskom finance chief

Eskom should bring old skills back from overseas to help train the technicians looking after power plants now, according to former Eskom financial chief Mick Davis.

Davis was reportedly blocked from becoming Eskom CEO by the ANC in 1994. He is now a British politician, was awarded the rank of Knight Bachelor, and works in government.

 

[Agent_Smith]

Won't happen. To bring in overseas help will be tantamount to admitting failure on the ANC's part. Think they'd rather have loadshedding 24/7 than admit that.

 

[RedViking]

More than enough experts on this forum and all looking for jobs that pay well. Why overseas?

 

[Surv0]

They dont want to come back....

 

[BeerIsNotGood...]

They dont want to come back....

Majority are probably dead by now

 

[RedViking]

Or just get the Cubans to come train and teach them.

 

[PaulMurkin]

Wont happen...
Many are retired
Some are passed on
But majority will not leave a 1st world country for a third world toilet.

Mr Davis is salty, after all these years that he didn't get the job and pull rank like De Ruyter now has the ability to.

 

[Gazg]

Lmao........must be living in a time warp, lot easier said than done.

 

[ThinkCentre]

Where municipalities does not pay ESKOM for electricity, ESKOM must take over the municipal power infrastructure including the payment system.
No debt must be written off! That happened too many times in the past.

 

[am-user]

Wont happen...
Many are retired
Some are passed on
But majority will not leave a 1st world country for a third world toilet.

Mr Davis is salty, after all these years that he didn't get the job and pull rank like De Ruyter now has the ability to.

It won't. My brother was an Eskom employee. Emigrated to Aus many years ago. One of the service providers around Eskom tried to get him to come back. Negotiations stalled when they could only match his Aus salary, which on its own wasn't enough enticement to stop building a life in a first world country

 

[cguy]

Yeah, that’s going to be … expensive.

 

[Muiskas]

“Running a power system is an art, not a science. It needs a huge amount of skill base. It needs people with experience,” Davis said.

Bollocks. It's a science. There are steps, procedures, planning and checks to be done in running a power station. It is not an art in any way whatsoever.

 

[azbob]

“Running a power system is an art, not a science. It needs a huge amount of skill base. It needs people with experience,” Davis said.

Bollocks. It's a science. There are steps, procedures, planning and checks to be done in running a power station. It is not an art in any way whatsoever.

It is an art. Lots of unemployed BA students out there who can fix Eskom.

 

[Muiskas]

It is an art. Lots of unemployed BA students out there who can fix Eskom.

This will inevitably be the result if they try

 

[itareanlnotani]

“Running a power system is an art, not a science. It needs a huge amount of skill base. It needs people with experience,” Davis said.

Bollocks. It's a science. There are steps, procedures, planning and checks to be done in running a power station. It is not an art in any way whatsoever.

Definitely - so, not an art.

It's a Discipline, in which lots of experience helps.

Given our current workforce debacles, I think management would probably be happy to have literate employee's that aren't actually actively sabotaging the plant.

 

[RedViking]

It has become an abstract art piece. I see where they are coming from. It will require someone with good taste and artistic skills to create something useful out of the mess. Only a true artist can save Eskom.

 

[DA-LION-619]

It has become an abstract art piece. I see where they are coming from. It will require someone with good taste and artistic skills to create something useful out of the mess. Only a true artist can save Eskom.

Or some creative accounting

 

[TheChamp]

“Running a power system is an art, not a science. It needs a huge amount of skill base. It needs people with experience,” Davis said.

Bollocks. It's a science. There are steps, procedures, planning and checks to be done in running a power station. It is not an art in any way whatsoever.

And he wonders why he didn't get the Eskom top job.

 

[Sapphiron]

Contrary to what most people think, Eskom does not have too many employees.

It has too many managers, directors and executives.

Decisions should be made by people who are, or have been doing the work.

 

[Oldfut]

“Running a power system is an art, not a science. It needs a huge amount of skill base. It needs people with experience,” Davis said.

Bollocks. It's a science. There are steps, procedures, planning and checks to be done in running a power station. It is not an art in any way whatsoever.

Yeah right, So any Homer Simpson type just follows the "steps, procedures, planning and checks" and all will run like a Swiss watch. I do not think so, IMHO you (or someone) needs qualifications, experience and understanding, usually built up over quite a few years, knowing (amongst thousands of other things) where each alarm is most likely to originate from (some can have multiple sources) and what its likely cause it out of the 20 or more listed in the manual (such as it is) as well as what action to take and what spares to have and where they are. If you really know the plant well you will know how parts and spares can be refurbished and repaired locally, made for you or obtained from a third party (OEM pirate!) all saving time and cost.

The systems are fantastic, as long as you continually maintain and upgrade (I have seen control rooms with three generations of gauges and screens) and staff go for training. Many systems are linked to their manufacturer (mostly overseas, often with English as a second language), online and real time monitoring and help is available, provided you keep the contract paid. To make effective use of it you need to comprehend what the guy is telling you, otherwise you will either spend hours on the call, run up a huge bill, or he will just get tired and go home.

And that is just for a small power plant. Big ones; eish, maybe not art but certainly not just follow the manual mechanically. Also if it was that simple, why do these things keep blowing up or breaking down?