As wrath falls, time to tremble

THE MAN who gifted us the “Saxonwold Shebeen” might find it extremely difficult to shout a round at his favourite pub next week – once he’s paid back R11 million that he received when he left Eskom in November 2016. The troubled parastatal, itself a byword for state capture, agreed to give Brian Molefe a R30m pension when he left/was fired/resigned/retired/took leave after being named in erstwhile public protector Thuli Madonsela’s state of capture report.

She found that he had phoned Ajay Gupta 58 times between August 2015 and March 2016 – and visited their Saxonwold mansion more than once a week when the notorious immigrant family were trying to buy a coal mine – that Eskom gave them the money to buy.

When Molefe left the parastatal he was gifted this golden handshake – amid incredible verbal gymnastics from the board and the minister of public enterprises defending the decision. After a ridiculously brief tenure as an MP, he was reinstated and left.

On Thursday, the Pretoria High Court flushed out the venal stench that has permeated this sorry saga in an excoriating judgment. Judge Elias Matojane said: “What is most disturbing is the total lack of dignity and shame by people in leadership positions who abuse public funds with naked greed for their own benefit without a moment’s consideration of the circumstances of fellow citizens who live in absolute squalor with no basic services.”

Molefe’s woes aren’t over – they’re only just beginning. On Thursday President Jacob Zuma allowed the original terms of the judicial commission into state capture to go ahead – dropping his bid to extend the terms almost to the palaeolithic period, killing it before it began.

Brian Molefe will pay and pay and pay for what he has done to this country.

The Guptas and Duduzane Zuma should be quaking.