Eskom board faults report but mum on cell calls
South African students in the #FeesMustFall movement appear to have taken inspiration from the European student protests of the late ’60s that rocked Germany, France and other countries. But is it a romanticised struggle in this day and age? ESKOM’s board remained steadfast in its position that the public protector’s State of Capture report had not thoroughly assessed the documents provided by the utility and it would consider taking the report on review.
“There are a number of inconsistencies in the report and we have asked counsel to look at our options,” said Suzanne Daniels, a senior general manager at Eskom, on Friday.
But while chairman Ben Ngubane, board member Pat Naidoo, chief financial officer Anoj Singh and Daniels defended Eskom at a media briefing on Friday against allegations of favouring companies linked to the Gupta family, there was still no explanation for the 44 phone calls CEO Brian Molefe made to Ajay Gupta between August 2 2015 and March 22 2016, and the 14 calls Gupta made to him.
Molefe said at the same briefing that he was taking legal advice on the matter of the phone calls and would not be commenting. But he did say: “I am not saying that the public protector is wrong. All I am saying is that in terms of the Public Protector Act, when she got hold of that information, it was my cellphone records, she was supposed to confront me with that and she didn’t.
“She was supposed to come to me and say we got this information that you made these phone calls. I would have asked her where did you get the information, who gave you the information, and she will say I subpoenaed so-and-so, and so on, and I would have said, let me interview the person and find out where they got the information, and only then would I have been able to answer.
“But anyway, it is a matter on which I will take legal advice.”
Molefe reiterated that he was never given the opportunity to respond to the claims made in the report, but he confirmed that he had received questions via email from Thuli Madonsela.
Madonsela, who compiled the report before her term as public protector ended, denied that she had not given Molefe the opportunity to respond, saying the right to be heard was not confined to a face-to-face interview.
In an attempt to set the record straight, Naidoo said all the coal transactions between Eskom CLARITY: Matshela Koko and Tegeta Resources, a subsidiary of the Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments, had a sound commercial rationale.
But the state capture report says there were irregularities in Eskom’s conduct as “it appears that the conduct of Eskom was solely for the purposes of forcing OCM/OCH [Optimum Coal Mine and Optimum Coal Holdings] into business rescue and financial distress. It appears that the conduct of Eskom was solely to the benefit of Tegeta.”
Glencore declined to comment on whether it would take legal action against Eskom.
Eskom has contracts with Tegeta to receive 9.3 million tons of coal for three power stations — Brakfontein, Hendrina and Koornfontein — which equates to 7.7% of the 120 million tons of coal Eskom needs annually.
Eskom said Tegeta last month had advised it of its intention to reach an agreement to terminate all its contracts with Eskom immediately or within a timeframe agreed upon with Eskom.
Matshela Koko, Eskom group executive of generation, said the letter from Tegeta regarding the termination of contracts in essence stated that “in the consideration of the several unfounded allegations published by the media and the impact it has had on Eskom and its leadership, plus the effect on the company itself, Tegeta believes it is prudent to cancel all agreements with Eskom”.
An Oakbay spokesperson confirmed this, saying: “Tegeta has requested to be released from Eskom contracts given media speculations in recent months and for the good of the country it would be appropriate that this takes place so the matter can be properly reviewed.”
Optimum Coal, from the time it was owned by Glencore, still owes Eskom R2-billion in penalties levied against it by Eskom.
Daniels said on Friday there was an arbitration process under way to get the R2-billion owed by Optimum Coal. Tegeta has until December to file a defence against arbitration.
See pages 10 and 11
It is a matter on which I will take legal advice