DA anger as Koko reinstated

FORMER acting CEO of Eskom Matshela Koko will be back at work next Monday in the role of head of gen according to Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe.

The information that Koko had been reinstated was sent in an internal memo from acting CEO Sean Maritz to senior Eskom staff on Tuesday and was leaked to the media.

Acting head of group capital Prish Govender‚ who was implicated in paying R500-million to Gupta-linked company Trillian‚ was also reinstated.

Koko faced six charges in his disciplinary hearing‚ including being influential in awarding contracts worth R1-billion to company Impulse, where his stepdaughter is a shareholder.

DA spokesperson on Public Enterprises Natasha Mazzone slammed the fact that the announcement was quietly done in an internal memo.

“Had the memo not been leaked‚ South Africa would not have known Koko had been reinstated.”

Mazzone said state-owned enterprises‚ including Eskom‚ were owned by the people of South Africa.

“We South Africans are the first people that should have known Koko had been reinstated. How can you not tell the owners of a company what is going on?”

But Eskom spokesman Phasiwe had a different take‚ saying the Eskom board had announced yesterday that Koko had been reinstated after he was cleared in the hearing.

“Having discussed the [investigation findings] with Public Enterprises minister Lynne Brown‚ the board announced it yesterday [on Tuesday].”

Koko’s hearings were described by analysts as a farce‚ with some key witnesses declining to give evidence. Lawyer and evidence leader Sebetja Matsaung‚ who was later fired‚ owned shares in a company Eskom had planned to work with. – Additional reporting by TimesLIVE