Inquiry told of Zuma ‘fixer team’

FORMER Eskom chief executive Brian Dames said he was left fuming after a meeting with the Guptas, although he could not recall which of the Gupta brothers he met.

Dames and another former employee said the looting at the power utility began a few years ago when Eskom took a different direction and flouted governance procedures.

Dames, who worked for Eskom for 27 years before he was pushed out, told the inquiry into state capture in Parliament yesterday that he was left angry after the Guptas proposed that they wanted some coal contracts at Eskom.

Another former Eskom employee and consultant, Ted Blom, now with the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said he met Zuma in 2008 at his Forest Town house in Johannesburg, where Zuma told him he must meet the “fixer team”.

But he too was left enraged after the “fixer team” told him they wanted to “eat at Eskom”.

Blom did not name the fixer team, but said it comprised eminent persons, including doctors and lawyers. He promised to send the team list to Parliament.

Zuma’s spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Dames said his tenure at Eskom became difficult after a new board was appointed in 2010 following the appointment of Malusi Gigaba as public enterprises minister.

Dames complained of interference by some of the former chairpersons of Eskom in operations.

PICTURE: GCIS OFFICIAL VISIT: Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at King Moshoeshoe Airport in Maseru. He is in Lesotho in his capacity as SADC facilitator to attend the landmark post-elections national dialogue. The national dialogue will be held under the...