Brian Molefe’s hotline to his ‘good friends’
ESKOM features prominently in the explosive state capture report, which sheds light on the close friendship between its chief executive Brian Molefe and the Gupta family.
The word “Eskom” appears 829 times in the report.
Cellphone records obtained by the public protector show that Molefe and Ajay Gupta exchanged 58 calls in eight months between last year and this year.
Ajay is one of three brothers‚ the other two being Atol and Rajesh, whose business empire and alleged political influence have stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy in South Africa.
The parastatal was a source of lucrative contracts for the Gupta family and Duduzane Zuma‚ the son of President Jacob Zuma‚ through a company called Tegeta.
Tegeta secured a 10-year supply agreement with Eskom to supply coal to the Majuba power station.
It also secured contracts to supply coal to the Hendrina and Arnot power stations.
Madonsela said in her report that a member of the Gupta family had admitted to her during an interview on October 4 that Molefe was his “very good friend” and often visited his home in the upmarket suburb of Saxonwold‚ Johannesburg.
“Eskom’s awarding of the initial contracts to Tegeta to supply coal to the Majuba power station will form part of the next phase of the investigation‚” the report noted.
A board appointed to a stateowned-enterprise was expected to act in the best interests of the country at all times but‚ “it appears that the board may have failed to do so”.
Cellphone records show that Molefe called Ajay Gupta 44 times between August 2 last year and March 22 this year. Gupta called Molefe 14 times during the same period.
Molefe was also in telephonic contact with Nazeem Howa – a director at Tegeta and until recently the head of Gupta-owned company Oakbay Investments – four times in a single day.
The timing of the phone calls is significant as it dovetails with a controversial purchase by the Gupta family of the Optimum coal mine.
The Guptas’ reportedly financed this deal with about R600-million that was a prepayment by Eskom to Tegeta for coal.