Molefe seen in parliament day before budget vote
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown insists that she has not lied to parliament after the ANC said her submission to the legislature on the reappointment of Eskom CEO Brian Molefe amounted to perjury.
Brown said on Tuesday that she was ready to defend her stance on Molefe to the ANC while she announced that she’s instituted her own forensic probe into allegations of corruption at Eskom, to be headed by a retired judge, and would probe transactions going back 10 years.
The ANC issued a hard-hitting statement against Brown and the Eskom board of directors on Tuesday, after they told parliament that Molefe had not resigned but had been on unpaid leave when he took up the position of ANC MP. The board had earlier said Molefe had resigned before changing tune to say he had retired.
Speaking to journalists yesterday ahead of her departmental budget vote debate, Brown said she told no lies at a heated meeting with the portfolio committee on public enterprises on Tuesday.
“I remain a member of the ANC whether they have issued 5 000 statements, I am a deployee of the ANC.
“…I don’t think I have lied to parliament, I am not lying to parliament …”
Molefe and the chairman of the Eskom board were conspicuous by their absence at the media briefing. Brown was joined by CEOs and board chairmen of key state-owned enterprises under her portfolio such as Transnet and Denel as per tradition of budget votes. Molefe was seen in the corridors of parliament on Wednesday.