PUBLIC Enterprises minister, Lynne Brown, said the South African government had no choice but to support Eskom’s decision to re-employ Brian Molefe as CEO after she declined his R30m pension payout.
“I am bringing him back on the basis that the board re-evaluated the pension after I declined it,” said Brown in a press conference earlier this afternoon. “The issue for me is that there isn’t another solution except paying Mr Molefe the R30m or going to the courts. So I support the board decision, provided it is legal,” she said.
Opposition parties and civil groups objected to the ‘golden handshake’ agreement, especially as Molefe had only served about six months of his three-year contract.
Brown said today, however, that a new pension would be adopted by Eskom’s board that would be market-related and that it would only become effective after serving five years.
Brown acknowledged the social outrage, adding: “Sometimes the outrage is personal. I thought it; that after all my years of working I will never have R30m. But that was my personal feeling and I have to be objective”.
Molefe resigned from Eskom in November last year following a report by the Public Protector which implicated him in the controversial purchase of Optimum Coal Mine by Tegeta Exploration & Energy, a company owned by the Gupta family.
He said at the time that he would first clear his name although he later became a member of parliament which some market commentators said was in preparation of his being named finance minister to replace Pravin Gordhan.
Responding to questions about Molefe’s shock re-employment today, Brown flew to his defence saying he had not been proven guilty.
“Mr Molefe is not guilty of anything yet; he is accused of having been captured and that he should not return to Eskom. So there is this ethical outcry by the public,” said Brown. “But he must be seen as innocent until proven guilty.”
She said the allegations he had been captured could only be tested if President Jacob Zuma exercised his prerogative to call a judicial commission of inquiry, as recommended by the Public Protector’s report, or until another investigation proved it.
“I would like to reiterate my call for a decisive investigation into allegations of maladministration raised in various reports including the former Public Protector’s state of capture report,” she said.
“Clouds of unproven allegations and counter allegations are doing state-owned companies and our country a great disservice,” she said.
She added that Eskom interim CEO, Matshela Koko, had taken leave while an investigation is conducted into the award of an Eskom tender which benefited a company in which his step-daughter was a beneficiary.
“I think he has done well to step down,” said Brown of Koko’s application for leave. Asked why it was therefore acceptable he was replaced by Molefe, who was also operating under a cloud of suspicion, Brown said: “Because Mr Molefe is not the subject of an on-going investigation”.
