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Former Eskom executive Matshela Koko.
Esa Alexander, Gallo Images, Sowetan
- A former top Eskom executive has testified that in 2015 Matshela Koko told him about the upcoming suspensions before they were officially announced.
- Nonkululeko Dlamini was appointed Eskom’s CFO in early 2015 after the abrupt suspension of her superior Tsholofelo Molefe. She herself resigned later that year.
- Koko, in an affidavit, has denied informing her of the suspension or inviting her to a meeting at Melrose Arch.
A former senior Eskom executive has testified that Matshela Koko told her in early 2015 that the company’s chief financial officer would likely be suspended, a day before the group’s board apparently made the decision.
Nonkululeko Dlamini, testifying before the state capture commission of inquiry on Wednesday, said that Koko, then Eskom’s business and technology executive, also told her at a hastily arranged meeting at a fast food restaurant on the night of the 10 March 2015 that would be suspended. She also asked her to send her her CV, saying that she could fill the CFO position that will soon become vacant.
Two days later, on March 12, 2015, at a press conference, Eskom made the unexpected announcement that the group’s chief financial officer, Tsholofelo Molefe, was to be placed on preventive suspension along with chief executive officer Tshediso Matona, the executive capital of the Dan Marokane and Koko group.
The abrupt suspension led to credit rating downgrades by baffled rating agencies and calls from lenders and financiers to Eskom’s chairman demanding to know what was happening.
None of the four officials who were suspended were charged with any specific crime, and all were acquitted in the investigation that followed. The suspensions were said to be necessary as a “precaution” so officials would not interfere with an internal investigation.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Dlamini (née Veleti), who joined Eskom in 2003 and made her way to report directly to Molefe, said she received a call from Koko on March 10, 2015, asking her to meet with him at Melrose Arch. He didn’t give a reason.
After consulting with Molefe, his direct superior, he said that he told Koko that he could not meet him because he was in a financial strategy session.
Koko then asked him to submit his CV, and he again followed up with another call to meet at a fast food restaurant on the way home.
At the brief meeting, according to Dlamini’s testimony, Koko told her that Molefe would likely be suspended and that she was in the running to replace her. She also told her that she would be suspended.
According to previous testimony heard at the commission, the decision to suspend the four executives was only officially made at a board meeting on March 11, a day after the hasty meeting.
Dlamini resigned from Eskom at the end of August 2015.
No ‘direct answer’
While Koko was not on the board, Dlamini said he thought that as a senior executive, he would likely have knowledge of what was happening.
She said he did not say at the meeting who had requested his CV. While trying to ask Koko for more information about what was going on, he didn’t give a “straight answer”. Koko was superior to her at the time.
A section of an affidavit by Koko, who has yet to testify before the commission, was read out on Wednesday.
In it, Koko denied that she told Dlamini about the upcoming suspensions or that she invited her to a meeting at Melrose Arch. She also said that while they met on the night of March 10, it was for “dinner.” Dlamini, in turn, denied they had met for dinner and said their meeting was brief.
Koko, in his affidavit, also claimed he was “shocked” when Dlamini was appointed interim CFO.
Dlamini told the investigation that she could not understand this, as it was Koko who had alerted her to the fact that she could take over.
On WhatsApp to Fin24 following Dlamini’s testimony, meanwhile, Koko said: “Wait my turn.”
