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Former SAA President Dudu Myeni. (File Photo: Gallo Images)
- Nicholas Linnell says that Myeni was known to be a close ally of President Jacob Zuma and therefore did not question his involvement in Eskom affairs.
- It was Myeni who recommended Linnell to spearhead Eskom’s investigation in 2015.
- Linnell had previously worked for Myeni at companies where she was chair of the board.
The active involvement of former SAA board chairman Dudu Myeni in Eskom affairs, as well as the suspension of the company’s senior executives in 2015, was due to his close relationship with former chairman Jacob Zuma, according to reported in the state capture investigation.
This is the assessment given by the business consultant, Nicholas Linnell, who appeared on Monday before the Judicial Investigation Commission on State Capture headed by Vice President of the Supreme Court Raymond Zondo. Linnell was tied up by Myeni to conduct an investigation at Eskom after several consultations with her, including a meeting at Zuma’s residence in Durban in March 2015.
Linnell told the commission that Myeni had summoned him to attend an urgent meeting at Zuma’s residence in Pretoria on March 6, 2015. However, Zuma did not show up, and Myeni proceeded to inform him of what needed to be done. at Eskom, regarding the direction of a planned investigation into the management of the power company that at the time was struggling with financial challenges and power outages.
The three executives who were suspended were former CEO Tshediso Matona, then-group equity executive Dan Marokane and then-technology and commercial executive Matshela Koko. A fourth member of the executive, then-CFO Tsholofelo Molefe, was added to the list, Linnell said during the hearing.
The justification for their suspension was said to prevent them from interfering with proceedings, based on evidence from former Eskom president Zola Tsotsi.
Test leader, advocate Pule Seleka, asked Linnell if he ever asked himself or Myeni why she was getting involved in the affairs of the energy company since she was president of SAA.
Linnell said she never asked, but had a clear understanding in her mind that she “is publicly said to be a close confidant and political ally of the president, and to the extent that she is the president of the SAA it is because she is the confident and political “. ally of the president “.
“Her role there was not as president of SAA … but as confidante and ally of the president, whether she was carrying out his orders regarding SAA or Eskom, as I understand it.”
Myeni was a central figure in facilitating meetings around Eskom’s affairs, and appeared to act as an intermediary for Zuma. She is also the one who recommended that Linnell be appointed head of the investigation.
Linnell, who had been described by forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan as Myeni’s “Mr. Fixit,” had an established working relationship with her, having conducted investigations at companies in which she was involved, such as the Mhlathuze Water Board and SAA.
The investigation continues.
