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By Loyiso Sidimba 
9h ago
Johannesbug – President Cyril Ramaphosa and his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, were aware of Brian Molefe’s move from Transnet to Eskom in 2015.
The state seizure inquiry commission continued to hear evidence Tuesday from former Eskom chairman Dr. Ben Ngubane, who was the acting chairman of the power company at the time of Molefe’s secondment.
He told the chairman of the commission, Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, that Molefe’s appointment was discussed with Zuma and Ramaphosa, who was the vice president of the country at the time.
Ngubane said Molefe was appointed because there was a leadership vacuum at Eskom after the board’s appointment in December 2014.
According to Ngubane, then-Minister for Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, announced that she had decided to move Molefe to Eskom a few months after appointing the board.
He said it was Brown who suggested that Eskom’s board should consider Molefe and that the power company’s board should write to Transnet to consider releasing Molefe.
Brown had told the commission that the Eskom and Transnet boards had quietly negotiated to facilitate the secondment of Molefe and that of the entities’ former chief financial officer, Anoj Singh.
“We approached the minister to present our problem in terms of the leadership of the organization,” Ngubane testified, adding that Molefe had done a good job at Transnet and the Public Investment Corporation, where he was also CEO.
Ngubane also defended Eskom’s business deals with the then-Gupta-owned Optimum Coal Mine, which the controversial and fugitive family bought from mining giant Glencore.
He said Glencore profited billions at Eskom’s expense when the price of coal soared from R150 to R513 overnight.
Ngubane said Glencore could have used its reserves to save the Optimum coal mine, which has been placed under corporate bailout.
“They are thieves, they think we are stupid Africans who are there to take them,” he said.
Judge Zondo asked, “How did you sign an agreement that tied you to the same price? How did you allow whoever signed on your behalf? How did you sign that contract? “
Ngubane said Eskom’s price was old and he refused to renegotiate the price.
He also accused Glencore of delivering substandard coal to Eskom and shipping the best coal abroad, for which the company was sanctioned by the power company.
Ngubane said that Glencore had bought companies that received contracts illegally during the apartheid era.
The former SABC chairman and cabinet minister said that when he took over as Acting Chairman of Eskom in 2015, the energy company was facing a very tumultuous situation.
It said four executives, former acting CEOs Matshela Koko and Tshediso Matona, as well as CFO Tsholofelo Molefe and group equity executive Dan Marokane, were suspended in March 2015, while former chairman Zola Tsotsi resigned as president in the same month.
Tsotsi has previously apologized for the suspension of the four executives as their careers were affected as a result of the move.
Brown had accused Tsotsi of interfering with management after receiving complaints from managers and board members and she asked him to refrain from doing this or else she would have to find someone else for the job.
Political Bureau
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