Eskom Loses Top Engineer (Responsible For Balancing The Load on The National Grid)

[Azure 12]

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/energy/2015/07/23/bleeding-eskom-to-lose-top-engineer

“ESKOM has suffered another blow as its top engineer and head of the national grid resigned with effect from the end of this month.

As head of systems operations and planning, Robbie van Heerden was responsible for controlling the load on the national grid...”

 

[LazyLion]

I hear there is an Engineer available who used to work at PRASA....

 

[Sonic2k]

Like rats from a sinking ship... oh dear... this is not going to be good...

 

[Ancalagon]

Hmmm, I'm suspicious. Family responsibilities?

I bet he just got fed up.

 

[Sonic2k]

Hmmm, I'm suspicious. Family responsibilities?

I bet he just got fed up.

Or he got gatvol of management blaming him. I bet he had a nervous breakdown.
The other alternative is that he knows the ship is sinking and he doesn't want to go down to the bottom of the sea with it. Or he decided they must go f**k themselves because they took away his bonus.

 

[Kosmik]

Hmmm, I'm suspicious. Family responsibilities?

I bet he just got fed up.

Can you imagine being in his position? I'd leave to.

 

[Sonic2k]

Can you imagine being in his position? I'd leave to.

Ja I think that job is even more stressful than being an air-traffic controller.

 

[ellyally]

This year, the utility was forced to cancel the voluntary retrenchment programme after being overwhelmed by applications from staff who wanted to leave.

oh god we're screwed

 

[Sherbang]

Hmmm, I'm suspicious. Family responsibilities?

I bet he just got fed up.

Possibly...

Sometimes their jobs make them unpopular with their own families: Van Heerden’s wife stormed out of an anniversary dinner two years ago because she became angry when he kept checking his phone for updates on the grid.

Ordinary South Africans, of course, can’t stand the phantom figures who actually have to flick the switches from “on” to “off”.

“Some of the insults are hurtful. Others call us stupid idiots who can’t do our jobs properly,” says Van Deventer.

http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/SAS-power-couple-20150429

 

[dualmeister]

Like rats from a sinking ship... oh dear... this is not going to be good...

And his Linkedin profile says he's been with Eskom since 1987.

 

[Sonic2k]

The consequences will be dire for the pair because preventing a grid collapse is part of their performance contract, and both could be held legally responsible if things fall apart.

There we go... even more stressful than being an ATC

 

[DA-LION-619]

And his Linkedin profile says he's been with Eskom since 1987.

I can imagine how many LinkedIn notifications he's going to get now.

 

[grok]

One just lives in hope that the loadshedding situation doesn't get worse once The Gridman leaves.

 

[SlinkyMike]

This is the issue with all of the hate around fat bonuses for Eskom bosses.

Ridiculous as it sounds we need these chops - best Eskom does hold onto them.

We have problems with the grid which is bad enough. Imagine the situation we'll be in if Eskom itself starts to fall apart.

 

[HavocXphere]

Isn't he the guy that won the award recently & claimed SA grid is more stable now than 10 years back or something like that?

But yeah, the guys trying to balance the mess are not at fault....the retarded gov that didn't have sufficient foresight to build capacity in time is. Can't exactly balance something if you don't have enough to work with in the first place.

 

[scienide]

well they are getting bonuses - 6% of their annual salary

 

[Gezza]

So, which comrade is going to take his place? Which uneducated, inexperienced person will be sitting in that chair now. Our economy...our poor poor economy.

 

[Compton_effect]

...
Mr van Heerden on Wednesday said that he had resigned to attend to family matters.

His family situation is known to Business Day.
...
Sources close to Eskom said the utility was working on a possible solution that would allow Mr van Heerden to look after his family while continuing with his job.

A senior manager, who asked not to be named, said: "Officially he’s resigned, but there’s a good chance he will not be leaving.

"We are doing everything we can to accommodate his situation. Eskom is a big family and we can’t let him suffer alone."
...

I've heard that type of statement before. Something tells me he is going to be too busy to worry about something as trifling as a nationwide blackout.

 

[dualmeister]

So, which comrade is going to take his place? Which uneducated, inexperienced person will be sitting in that chair now. Our economy...our poor poor economy.

 

[vaakseun]

A senior manager, who asked not to be named, said: "Officially he’s resigned, but there’s a good chance he will not be leaving.

He'll now be hired as an external consultant at three times his old pay-rate.

But good for Mr. van Heerden, I feel for the poor engineers (especially those like him who has been with the company since 1987) who has to struggle to keep the ship floating despite the ANC seemingly trying their utmost to sabotage the utility since the 60's.