Koko inquiry in limbo over ‘thuggish threats’
Eskom fires evidence leader Matsaung threatened to beat up Financial Mail deputy editor
Eskom’s shambolic case against senior executive Matshela Koko hangs in the balance after the antics of evidence leader Sebetja Matsaung forced the utility to fire him at the weekend.
Eskom announced on Saturday it would be appointing a new evidence leader after Matsaung threatened to beat up Financial Mail deputy editor Sikonathi Mantshantsha on Friday night. Eskom condemned Matsaung’s behaviour “in the strongest terms possible”.
It said: “The former evidence leader has been notified that his services have been terminated.”
Mantshantsha said he planned to report Matsaung to the Law Society of SA for “his thuggish behaviour on Friday”.
The replacement of the evidence leader adds to a long line of setbacks in Koko’s disciplinary process and is likely to result in further delays. It has taken almost four months for the hearings to begin. Eskom said on Saturday it expected to finalise the appointment of a new case leader within three days.
But this fails to take into account the time a new prosecutor will need to become familiar with the voluminous files containing the charges against Koko and to line up witnesses.
Matsaung’s dismissal also comes as new evidence has come to light that his conflict of interest in the hearing is even more serious than reported.
A report in Business Day on Friday, co-authored by Mantshantsha, revealed that Matsaung owned shares in a company awarded a R500m tender by Eskom. A copy of the award letter lists Koko as the person who would sign it on Eskom’s behalf.
Eskom documents show the company FBC & Associates was the lead partner in a joint venture awarded the contract on
May 18 2016 to provide scaffolding and thermal insulation to 15 coal-fired power stations over five years.
The contract was not implemented after being interdicted by a rival bidder in 2016.
When asked last week if this was a conflict of interest, Matsaung said the contract was not relevant to his prosecution of Koko as he had only become a director and shareholder of FBC in 2017, “long after the tender was awarded”.
However, Business Day has obtained new evidence that Matsaung invested in FBC as early as February 2016, which is three months before the tender was awarded.
Matsaung’s poor handling of the prosecution, which began on Wednesday, has raised questions over how serious he was in his commitment to the task for which he was being paid.
Several witnesses complained of being treated unprofessionally with last-minute scheduling. Proceedings came to an abrupt halt on Friday evening after Matsaung ran out of witnesses.
Annemari Krugel, an investigator at audit firm Nkonki, had to leave early for a prearranged appointment after Matsaung had asked her to testify about events of which she no longer had direct knowledge. Matsaung’s next scheduled witness declined to appear because his lawyer was not available.
On Wednesday, Matsaung only called one witness, Eskom forensics and assurance official Daphne Morwalle. He said he had been unable to call other witnesses from Nkonki scheduled to appear that day because they were “ducking and diving”.
Chris Yelland, MD at EE Publishers, who attended the hearing, said the events were “damaging for Eskom and their reputation and their legal counsel who are prosecuting Koko”.
He said: “It is quite clear from the proceeding that Matsaung was not prosecuting with much effort and people are asking whether this whole thing is sham or a charade.”
It was during an interview with Yelland on Friday evening after the proceedings adjourned that Matsaung claimed Mantshantsha’s reporting was not factual. Mantshantsha, who was seated nearby, suggested to Matsaung that he speak to him directly about his reporting.
The Eskom lawyer then turned on Mantshantsha, unleashing a string of threats and insults, including that the matter should be settled outside “in the African way”.