Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Eskom Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Jacob Maroga resigned and will be replaced within 90 days, South Africa’s largest opposition party said, citing a memo distributed by the power utility to its staff today.

“The Eskom board is presently considering who will be acting on his behalf,” the memo said, according to an e-mailed statement today from the Democratic Alliance. The party didn’t say where it got the document. Eskom canceled a press conference due at 1 p.m. today without explanation. It had previously said the company would discuss Maroga’s position at the briefing.

South Africa has been short of power under Maroga’s tenure, with most mines and smelters shutting for five days in January 2008 when the electricity system neared collapse. The utility, supplier of about 95 percent of national power, posted a record loss of 9.7 billion rand ($1.3 billion) last fiscal year.

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

“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. The matter should be resolved with “the urgency that it deserves.”

Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell didn’t respond to voice and text messages left on his mobile phone. Maroga declined to comment when Bloomberg News reached him by phone today.

‘Breakdown in Relations’

The press conference had been called to announce Maroga’s resignation, two people familiar with the matter said. They declined to be named because the matter is confidential. South African President Jacob Zuma intervened to save Maroga’s job, Johannesburg newspaper Sake24 said on its Web site yesterday.

Zuma didn’t “interfere in any way,” Hogan said. “Labor laws and corporate governance requirements make it clear that the shareholder is not permitted to interfere.”

Maroga faced opposition after he asked the national energy regulator to allow Eskom to treble tariffs over three years.

The planned hike would have a “devastating” effect on the economy, Gold Fields Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said yesterday. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the largest labor group, said it was “outrageous and insensitive.”

‘Hasn’t Resigned’

While recession in Africa’s biggest economy brought a reprieve from the power shortage, mines and ferrochrome smelters are ramping up production as global demand for metals recovers, boosting power consumption. South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of ferrochrome, used to make stainless steel, and of platinum, used in jewelry and vehicle exhaust systems.

Maroga denied he had quit today in talks with the ruling African National Congress’s youth wing, Floyd Shivambu, a spokesman for the group, said by mobile phone.

“He hasn’t resigned,” Shivambu said.

While Eskom “can by no means afford this instability during this crucial planning period,” the resignation is welcome, the Solidarity labor union said in an e-mailed statement. It’s time for “renewal of Eskom’s management.”

Maroga took over as CEO from Thulani Gcabashe, whose contract expired in December 2007.

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 10:10 EST