{"id":211864,"date":"2017-05-23T10:54:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T08:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=211864"},"modified":"2017-05-23T10:57:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T08:57:32","slug":"explain-this-eskom-and-brian-molefe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/211864-explain-this-eskom-and-brian-molefe.html","title":{"rendered":"Explain this, Eskom and Brian Molefe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mail & Guardian has reported<\/strong><\/a> that Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and Eskom CEO Brian Molefe said in affidavits that he was on “unpaid leave” when he served as a member of Parliament.<\/p>\n

These affidavits were filed following an application in the North Gauteng High Court by the DA which seeks to remove Molefe as Eskom CEO.<\/p>\n

The first part of the DA\u2019s urgent application aims to interdict Molefe from performing any duties as Eskom CEO, and prevent him from receiving any benefits associated with the position.<\/p>\n

The second part requests that the court review and set aside the reappointment of Molefe as Eskom CEO, as the DA believes it was irrational.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolefe is deeply connected to the Gupta family, the chief suspects in the capture of state institutions and enterprises for their own benefit,\u201d said the DA.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolefe remains implicated in the dodgy Tegeta and Optimum Coal contracts which benefitted the Guptas directly.”<\/p>\n

Molefe leaves Eskom, then returns<\/h3>\n

In November 2016, Molefe said\u00a0in a statement<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cI have, in the interests of good corporate governance, decided to leave my employ at Eskom from January 1, 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

On 23 February this year, Molefe\u00a0was sworn in<\/strong><\/a> as ANC member of Parliament for the party\u2019s branch in the North West.<\/p>\n

He was expected to replace Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, but this did not happen.<\/p>\n

In April, the Sunday Times reported that Molefe was to receive a R30-million golden handshake after serving as Eskom CEO for 18 months.<\/p>\n

Minister Brown rejected the R30-million payout, and said\u00a0reinstating Molefe<\/strong><\/a> as CEO was the only solution.<\/p>\n

Since then, there have been conflicting reports on what really happened when Molefe left Eskom.<\/p>\n

Eskom board spokesperson\u00a0Khulani Qoma said<\/strong><\/a> earlier this month that Molefe \u201cdid not resign – he applied for an early retirement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why we were able to reinstate him because he asked for an early retirement and the board granted him that.”<\/p>\n

Molefe and Eskom board chairman\u00a0Ben Ngubane said<\/strong><\/a> Molefe\u2019s early retirement was a \u201ccommon fundamental mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ngubane added that Molefe never resigned from Eskom.<\/p>\n

In her affidavit, Brown said:<\/p>\n

On 11 November 2016, Mr. Molefe resigned as CEO of Eskom. I issued a press statement\u2026 stating that I respected his decision to resign. At the time I made this statement, I was not aware of the fact that Molefe had in fact applied for early retirement and that Eskom had on 11 November 2016 accepted such application. I was under the impression that this was a case of a unilateral resignation and nothing more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The latest report<\/strong><\/a> from the Mail & Guardian states that Brown and Molefe said in sworn statements that he was on \u201cunpaid leave\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEskom chief executive Brian Molefe never resigned from the company, both he and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown agree in new affidavits,\u201d\u00a0stated the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, under a new agreement, he is now formally considered to have been on unpaid leave during the period he served as a member of Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public documents\u00a0rubbish the claims<\/h3>\n

While a court battle is likely to decide Molefe’s fate, documents in the public domain make the \u201cunpaid leave\u201d argument challenging.<\/p>\n

\n

Statement by the Ministry of Public Enterprises on 30 May 2016<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"Lynn<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Statement by Brian Molefe on 11 November 2016<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"Molefe<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement for the position of Eskom CEO<\/h3>\n

\"Eskom<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Now read:\u00a0Molefe\u2019s return to Eskom will cost the ANC \u2013 SACP<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and Eskom CEO Brian Molefe argue that he was on “unpaid leave” when he served as an ANC MP, but public documents rubbish this claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":207138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[8995,181,35,43372],"class_list":["post-211864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-brian-molefe","tag-eskom","tag-headline","tag-lynee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211864"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211908,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211864\/revisions\/211908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}