Red lights flash as scandal hits Eskom

How could a recent university graduate land up as a director of a company which benefited by R1 billion in contracts with Eskom? Koketso Choma is the 26-year-old stepdaughter of Matshela Koko, who was appointed acting CEO of the state-owned power utility in December. This followed the resignation of Brian Molefe in November, after being implicated by the Public Protector in alleged improper dealings with the Gupta family.

Choma, who shares the family home in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb Bryanston, has resigned from Impulse International, an engineering supply company awarded nearly R1.8 billion in contracts while she was a director.

Koko, named in the State of Capture report as having authorised paying out nearly R100 million to Gupta-owned Tegeta, is a 21-year Eskom veteran with direct influence on the power facility’s supply chain management, which reported to him.

Surely there are several aspects of this seemingly interwoven tangle that need to be more closely examined.

How, it should be asked, did Choma reach such exalted heights in industry after gaining her degree in 2014? We have no doubts about her accountancy qualifications, but would suggest that accelerated advancement of this rapidity is unusual at best.

We would also tend to think that there are large gaps in the protocols being employed in the day-to-day supply chain management at Eskom, which need to be urgently examined.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with black management reaping just rewards – many of them well overdue in a country where race continues to dominate discussions. Indeed, success among black business people is integral to South Africa’s success.

But we would also make a plea for greater transparency and stricter oversight on just how such enormous sums are disbursed.