Axed Molefe goes to court

Brian Molefe, who was fired as Eskom CEO last week, is launching a comeback fight by taking his former employer and Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to court over his dismissal.

Molefe will launch his urgent application in the Labour Court today. In the application, which lists Eskom and Brown as respondents, Molefe says his dismissal was unlawful and should be treated as invalid.

Brown, as the Eskom shareholder representative, carried out an instruction from the government to rescind Molefe’s reappointment as Eskom CEO. The power utility’s board subsequently fired Molefe on Friday.

“In giving effect to and on the basis of the minister’s directive contained in the letter dated May 31, it was resolved that the resolution of the board of directors taken on May 2, is rescinded. Furthermore, it was resolved that the reinstatement agreement concluded between Mr Molefe and Eskom on May 11, be rescinded,” the board said in a statement at the time.

Molefe left Eskom under a cloud in November last year after he was implicated in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture. He then joined the ANC caucus in parliament as an MP.

He was reappointed to his old post last month, for the stated reason that he had “mistakenly” been granted early retirement, which would entitle him to a pension payout of R30 million, which was vetoed by Brown.

Brown told a parliamentary committee that she had for months believed that Molefe had resigned last year, but had learned in April that he had, in fact, asked for early retirement.

Molefe, who featured extensively in Madonsela’s report, has denied any links to the wealthy, politically connected Gupta family.

The family enjoys close ties to President Jacob Zuma and has been accused of wielding much power over the running of the state and its parastatals such as Eskom. – ANA