Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Eskom Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s state-owned power utility, may announce as soon as today that its Chief Executive Officer Jacob Maroga will leave the company, two people familiar with the matter said.

Johannesburg-based Business Day on Oct. 30 reported that the board has asked Maroga to resign, citing unidentified people at the company. Maroga has resigned, the South African Press Agency reported today, citing chairman Bobby Godsell. The Democratic Alliance opposition party said in an e-mailed statement that Maroga had resigned with immediate effect, citing an internal Eskom memorandum that was sent to staff today.

Eskom canceled a press conference that it had said it would hold at 1 p.m. local time today to discuss Maroga’s position and gave no further information. The people declined to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public.

“It has come to my attention that there is an apparent breakdown in relations between the board of directors of Eskom and the CEO,” South African Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site today.

Under Maroga’s tenure, South Africa has been short of power and most mines and smelters in the country shut for five days in January last year when the national power-system neared collapse. The utility, which supplies about 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, reported a record loss of 9.7 billion rand ($1.26 billion) in the year to March 31.

Power Shortages

The shortages stem from a delay in the government giving Eskom permission to expand as it unsuccessfully sought to attract private investment into the country’s power industry. Eskom is seeking to triple power tariffs over the next three years to help it fund a five-year, 385 billion-rand expansion program.

Yesterday Sake24, a Johannesburg-based newspaper, reported on its Web site that South African President Jacob Zuma had intervened to save Maroga’s job.

“Labor laws and corporate governance requirements make it clear that the shareholder is not permitted to interfere with,” Maroga’s employment contract, Hogan said, adding that his agreement is with Eskom’s the board. Zuma didn’t “interfere in any way” in the matter, she added.

“I won’t be able to speak to you now,” Maroga said when contacted on his mobile phone today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicky Smith in Johannesburg at nsmith38@bloomberg.net; Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at clourens@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 06:33 EST