Johannesburg - Abel Sithole has quit as chief executive of Eskom's pension and provident fund in the middle of the fund's restructuring, Kennedy Memani, the chairman of the fund's board of trustees, confirmed yesterday.
Sources close to the matter believed that Sithole was pushed out because of his sympathetic attitude towards trade unions.
Sithole was said to support the involvement of organised labour in the restructuring of the R18 billion fund from a defined benefit fund to a defined contribution fund, because the proposed changes could adversely affect most of Eskom's unskilled workers.
Under the defined contribution fund, members take the risk of the fund's investments.
Memani insisted that Sithole had not left because of differences over the fund's restructuring.
He said Sithole had left to pursue better career opportunities elsewhere. Sithole could not be reached for comment yesterday.
A statement from the board of trustees merely said Sithole had indicated "he wished to pursue other career options".
The board will appoint a successor in consultation with Eskom.
Mpho Letlape, Eskom's human resources executive director, has said the rationale for changing to a defined contribution fund was to promote staff mobility and give them more choice about their pensions.
Eskom's unions want the firm's contribution to the fund to increase at the same rate as inflation, but insist that the contribution paid by employees not change.