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Cape Town – The three spheres of South Africa’s democracy will get a turn to dig deeper into the leadership crisis at Eskom, following the power utility’s appearance before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on Tuesday.
1. The judiciary sphere
The first sphere of power, the judiciary, has been requested to make the final call on whether Brian Molefe’s reappointment as chief executive at Eskom this month was lawful, following the debacle over his R30m pension pay-out, which was rescinded.
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said she had submitted her affidavit responding to the Democratic Alliance the Economic Freedom Front’s court bid to have Molefe’s reappointment reversed.
In it, she withdrew her opposition to the section of the bid seeking a reversal of Molefe’s reappointment. “I have decided that I will abide by the court’s decision on the legality of Mr Molefe’s return to Eskom,” she told the committee.
The trial is set for 30 May.
READ: Brown opens up on how Eskom kept her in the dark
2. The executive sphere
The second sphere, the executive, will launch an independent inquiry into the coal procurement process followed by Eskom. Brown revealed the decision to launch the inquiry ahead of her budget vote speech, where she had planned to announce the move. Brown said she wants the inquiry “to lift all the issues” that have been revealed in reports into Eskom.
“My department has already drawn out the terms of reference for it,” she said. “We will have an investigation. At some point, we should do it with the SIU (Special Investigating Unit). It has to bring the other seven investigations that were never completed.”
Brown's deputy Ben Martins said “it is important to lift the veil on the procurement of coal. It needs to be brought to the fore so that all companies concerned can be identified,” he said. “We need to know all the companies … regardless of family associations.”
Brown further revealed that she has instituted an independent review of the Eskom board, which will provide her with information to possibly “rotate” members at its annual general meeting in June. Many Members of Parliament had suggested the board should be removed, but she hinted that any change would only occur in June.
Zukiswa Rantho, acting chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, told Brown that the committee is concerned with governance at Eskom. “There seems to be a breakdown between the stakeholder and the board,” she said.
3. The legislative sphere
The legislative sphere, the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, will recommend that Parliament conducts a legal commission of inquiry into the state of affairs at Eskom regarding the reappointment of Molefe.
“The committee will recommend that there should be a legal commission of inquiry into the state of affairs at Eskom,” said Zukiswa. “Mr Molefe's reappointment is seen as illegal by this committee and it will see it this way until proven otherwise.
READ: Fraud cloud over Molefe's reappointment
“We require Eskom to provide documents requested by committee members,” said Zukiswa. “We want correspondence that shows the decision to reappoint Mr Molefe. We are not convinced as a committee.”
WATCH: MPs grill Eskom and Brown
Eskom responds
Responding to the decision to launch these inquiries, Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane told the committee: “Start the inquiry, take every recording of our board meetings, take all our minutes, take all our reports we sent to Treasury - then cast judgement on the board.”
“We will welcome it (an investigation into Eskom) tomorrow.”
Regarding the court case over Molefe’s reappointment, he said: “It is now up to the court to decide. We acted on the best advice the country's legal minds could give.”
Gordhan’s surprise
After former finance minister Pravin Gordhan appeared in the committee meeting, it was announced he had been appointed to the committee and that this would be his maiden committee meeting.
He didn’t waste any time, stating that the Eskom board should be dismissed or they should step down. “They have let South Africans down,” he said. “They have not served South Africa well.”
He also called for Brown to launch a judicial commission of the inquiry into the overall governance of Eskom. “We want a thorough forensic audit on Eskom,” he said. “It is too important to be used for a few individuals.”
LISTEN: Gordhan gets tough on Eskom
Gordhan’s call was echoed by other politicians.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the Eskom board acted recklessly. “Why would you appoint someone who has these huge allegations hanging over their head? He has not been cleared. The board has not taken the best interests of state money and the tax payers of SA and have not done their fiduciary duty.”
READ: Gordhan launches scathing attack on Eskom
EFF MP Floyd Shivambu agreed. “We need to subject the Eskom board to a thorough inquiry”.
IFP MP Narend Singh said there are many more questions the committee needs to ask. “Why would we want to destroy Eskom and the good work they are doing because of one person,” he asked. “Minister, is there any influence from anywhere else that is clouding your judgment? I have known you too long to make such basic mistakes. Come clean: I think your credibility is at stake.”
ANC accuses Brown and Eskom of perjury
Following the meeting, the ANC said representations by Eskom and Brown about the reinstatement of Molefe are disingenuous and "amount to perjury".
"According to the incoherent version tabled today, Mr Molefe had never resigned from Eskom, but rather was on unpaid leave. This is in direct contradiction to Mr Molefe's own statement when he left the utility, where he said 'I have, in the interests of good corporate governance, decided to leave my employ at Eskom from 1 January 2017. I do so voluntarily...' and Minister Brown's letter dated 30th November 2016 where she approved the appointment of Mr Koko as Acting Group CEO following 'the resignation of Mr Brian Molefe'.
"On the strength of the representations from Minister Brown and Mr Molefe, the ANC acceded to his nomination as Member of Parliament," it said. "Not only are these latest developments disingenuous to say the least, they amount to perjury.
It called on government and Parliament to "act decisively to deal with this irrational and untenable situation".
READ IT AS IT HAPPENED: Eskom and Brown fail to convince Parliament
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