[ad_1]
Former Eskom Group CEO Matshela Koko came to Zondo’s investigation into the capture of the state armed with graphs and data indicating how the power company performed best with him at the helm.
Koko dropped a bombshell, saying that despite being one of the best engineers in the country and helping Eskom win the world energy company of the year in 2001, he was fired by President Cyril Ramaphosa. At the time, Ramaphosa was the government’s business chief and vice president. In that capacity, he sent an instruction to the public companies department to appoint a new board and remove Koko.
The order came through a phone call from the CEO who was in the presence of then-Deputy Minister Ben Martins.
“She said… I’m calling you out of respect and courtesy because I know you. The vice president will issue a press release dismissing him.
“I thought, how can the vice president remove me? Why am I being fired? “
Later, Martins spoke on the phone and told Koko that they owed him the decency to tell her that the statement would be published. Before Koko got home, she saw breaking news headlines saying that a new Eskom board would be appointed and that Koko had been asked to resign.
According to Koko, he took Eskom to the labor court and says he was emphatic that the vice president’s claim was illegal.
“I’m telling you that the vice president interfered with Eskom. He said there must be a reason for me to be fired. Most importantly chair, it is an illegal instruction. The president of Optimum in 2012 and 2014 was Ramaphosa, ”said Koko.
On what the reasons for his removal were, Koko says he believes that the Optimum mine owing 1.4 billion rand to Eskom was at the center of his removal. Optimum was supposed to resolve the R 1.4 billion sanctions, but a dispute had caused a delay as Optimum underwent arbitration against the sanctions.
“There is no reason to explain why it was not paid. They questioned the tariff and the price of coal, that was a consequence of arbitration, they refuse to go to arbitration. When it got nasty, they made up a deal. No one at Eskom chased him. “
He added that the consequence of his dismissal was costly to the country’s economy, as R 266 billion had been lost due to cargo shedding and faulty maintenance since he left.
#CaptureState #Size sings like a canary, implies President Cyril Ramaphosa. We hope that the Commission will invite the President to tell his version of events.
– Bantu Holomisa (@BantuHolomisa) December 3, 2020
Watch Matshela Koko testify at the Zondo commission below.
Related Posts:
(Visited 1,518 times, 1,518 visits today)
[ad_2]
