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Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko at the parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in the electricity company on January 24, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Esa Alexander)
In refuting evidence that puts him in league with Gupta’s Lieutenant Salim Essa, former Eskom executive Matshela Koko accuses the Zondo Commission of targeting particular people rather than following the evidence.
What actually happened during meetings at Melrose Arch and at a Midrand fast food establishment on March 10, 2015, the day before Eskom’s board suspended four top executives, was questioned in the Zondo Investigation on State Capture. by a former group executive for technology and business division Matshela Koko on Thursday night.
Koko was the only one of the four suspended executives to get his job back a few months later.
CEO Tshediso Matona, CFO Tsholofelo Molefe and group capital executive Dan Morokane were fired, and the exit agreements cost the state-owned company R18.2 million.
In prior testimony before the commissionSuzanne Daniels, a former Eskom Chief Legal Officer, said Koko introduced her to Gupta associate Salim Essa at Melrose Arch on March 10, 2015.
Former Project Manager at Eskom’s Kusile Power Plant Abram Masango has also testified that Koko called him into a meeting with Essa at Melrose Arch, while former Eskom executive Nonkululeko Dlamini (née Veleti) told the commission that Koko also called her that day, asking her to meet him at Melrose Arch, but that he couldn’t do it because he was attending an important finance meeting. Dlamini said she asked him to send her her CV and they met at a Midrand fast food joint that same day, where he told her about pending suspensions and that she would be appointed interim CFO.
The suspensions, believed to have been ordered by then-President Jacob Zuma as a way to place Gupta’s allies in state utility for further state capture, and which resulted in the appointment of Gupta’s lackey. Singh Members as Eskom CFO and Brian Molefe as CEO – have appeared in numerous testimonies before the commission. It is alleged that Koko had prior knowledge of the suspensions and played a role in facilitating the state capture network. He, along with Daniels, are among 12 people who have received a subpoena from Eskom and the Special Investigation Unit, including Essa and the three Gupta brothers, Rajesh, Atul and Ajay, in an attempt to recoup R3.8 billion related to Gupta’s 2015/16 acquisition of Optimum Coal Holdings.
In a vigorous defense, Koko provided the investigation, chaired by Supreme Court Vice President Raymond Zondo, with her version of events during a three-and-a-half-hour afternoon session Thursday.
“They have criminalized and criticized me, they have condemned me, they have insulted me. My son is coming home from school and I feel sorry for him, ”said Koko, who was endorsed by defender Frans Barrie SC.
“Your investigations are following the people, not the evidence. Because if you follow the evidence, different people would be sitting where I’m sitting, ”he told Judge Zondo.
Although he admitted to being at Melrose Arch on March 10, 2015 (“I like the place,” he said), he denied introducing Daniels to Essa. He said he had heard of impending suspensions, including his own, and was upset.
Koko denied Masango’s version, presented by test leader Advocate Pule Seleka SC, that she had called Masango at Melrose Arch and asked him to hand over her cell phone before taking him to a meeting with Essa, where they discussed the planned suspension of four executives. , three of whom would not return to Eskom.
Seleka also challenged Koko with testimony from Dlamini that when she met him in Midrand that afternoon, he told her about the impending suspensions, asked her to send her her CV, and told her that she would be given the position of interim CFO.
Koko, who described Dlamini as a family friend, said that she had told him she was looking for another job and had prepared her CV. When he told her what he knew about the impending suspensions, the subject of her taking over as interim CFO was jokingly brought up, as she was the most likely candidate.
As for how he learned of the impending suspensions, he said that he had clashed with then-chairman of the board, Zola Tsotsi, over the suspension of senior business general manager Malesela Sekhasimbe, who he said was in cahoots with Tsotsi. for over R69 million Tsotsi wanted Sumitomo Corporation Africa paid. for the supply of transformers.
Koko claimed to have had numerous conversations with Matona over the previous days, about Tsotsi sending SMS messages to Matona threatening to suspend both of them if they did not lift Sekhasimbe’s suspension. However, Koko would not do so as Tsotsi was not supposed to get involved in operational matters. Also, there was no need for the transformers and no order number had been signed.
Therefore, he said, he was expecting a confrontation when the board met on March 11, but did not know about the planned suspension of Molefe and Morokane.
When Seleka asked why she did not argue this case before the board and brought up Tsotsi’s overreach, Koko said that when she entered the meeting, the reason the board gave for her suspension was an alleged sabotage of generating capacity. from Eskom, leading to the need for diesel generators and the resulting cost of R1 billion in diesel purchases. He said it was a serious accusation and took the board’s word for it.
“The sabotage accusation threw me,” he said, then added: “Now I know the reason is implausible.”
Pressed by Judge Zondo on why, when he was on amicable terms with Daniels, Masango and Dlamini at the time, they would all conspire to lie about him introducing them to Essa, Koko said it was now, when he was no longer in relationships, that they were lying.
“Are you saying they conspired?” asked the judge, to which Koko replied, “Yes.”
Koko brought up the matter of Masongo, who she said was the mentor, having been arrested in 2019 on charges of fraud and corruption and be released on bail of R30,000.
Then, criticizing the commission, which Barrie joined, he asked why the testimony of “a potential criminal who may go to jail” was given weight and why the commission was not investigating Masango for his role. in state capture, as the accusations were public knowledge.
Judge Zondo replied that an invitation for the presentation of such evidence had been announced and that Koko had to present it to the commission.
“In South Africa, the levels of corruption are enormous,” said the judge. “If the commission followed up on all the corruption allegations, we would be here for 100 years.”
Zondo said Koko was scheduled to continue her testimony on December 11. DM
