Daniel (Dan) Leseja Marokane is currently the Group Chief Executive (GCE) of Eskom Holdings SOC Limited., a 100% state-owned company of over 40 000 employees, generating close to 90% of the energy supplied to a wide range of customers in South Africa and the region, by transforming inputs from the natural environment, such as coal, nuclear fuel, diesel, kerosene, water and wind into energy. Eskom has a total of 30 power stations with a nominal capacity of 46 788MW.

Dan is a seasoned turnaround expert, a charismatic and inspirational leader, with a proven track record of disciplined execution in operational, strategic and change leadership roles in large organisations. He has led operations across the oil, gas, power/energy and manufacturing sectors where he has overseen procurement budgets of over R100 billion and capex budgets of R60 billion annually, achieving cashflow improvements of R3 billion over a two-year period and facilitating asset disposals of R6.5 billion. Prior to taking the helm at Eskom, Dan led staff complements of up to 35 000 people.

His return to Eskom is preceded by a stint between 2010 and 2015. During that tenure, he was tasked with stabilising Eskom’s coal supply function, following the first occurrences of loadshedding in 2008. The remit of his function was the operational execution of the coal procurement strategy, focussed on quality and adherence to the coal supply schedule. He initiated and led the harmonisation of procurement policies and practices to drive cost competitiveness, improve governance, and enable engineering cost efficiencies through the critical review of specifications. His last role was being responsible lead Group Capital, and he led the team that successfully syncronised the first of the Medupi unit after delays of several years before. He joined Tongaat Hulett as an executive in January 2018 and carried out various responsibilities as the organisation embarked on a turnaround journey and was appointed to the Tongaat Hulett Board on 18 November 2019. He took on the responsibility of interim CEO in February 2023, early into the company’s voluntary business rescue process focussing on ensuring that, while a financial plan to solve the company’s debt burden was being considered, the four operating entities across Southern Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana) continued to show improvement in their operational excellence glide path, thus demonstrating the value of the business.

After his departure from Eskom in March 2015, and before joining Tongaat Hulett, Dan provided advisory services across the energy value chain. He partnered with clients, capacitating them in driving strategic growth and change projects, at CEO and board level.

Dan holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering (UCT) an MSc Petroleum Eng (London) and an MBA (UCT). He is passionate about people, helping them realise their inherent value and full potential, which is critical to driving performance.