Mere hours after Eskom on Friday announced it had suspended its Executive for the Group Capital Division, Abram Masango, lawyers for Masango announced his immediate resignation from the power utility.
"After more than 20 dedicated years as a loyal and committed senior Executive of Eskom, Mr Abram Masango, the highly respected whistle-blower who exposed the rot and corruption within the power utility, has resigned with immediate effect," said his attorneys of record in a statement sent to media.
According to his lawyers, Masango resigned due to "continuous harassment, threats and victimisation".
It claimed that the notice of suspension on Friday showed the power utility's "desperation to remove him from the organisation no matter what".
Earlier on Friday, Eskom said it was suspending Masango with immediate effect, pending an investigation into "various allegations of impropriety against him relating to the Kusile Power Station build project".
"Whilst we recognise his rights to be presumed innocent, however, given the serious nature of the allegations made against him and the seniority of his position in Eskom, the Eskom management took a decision to place him on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation," said Eskom in a media statement.
Friday's suspension was the second time that Masango had been suspended within a year by the power utility.
In November 2017 Masango was placed on suspension pending an investigation of allegations of corruption. In April Eskom announced that a disciplinary hearing had found him not guilty.* Sign up to Fin24's top news in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TO FIN24 NEWSLETTER