Woman who blew whistle on Eskom lives in fear

BECOMING a whistleblower changed her life forever. That is what Eskom’s head of legal compliance Suzanne Daniels said yesterday in an interview with eNCA.

“You want to get some normality back into your life‚ but it’s changed forever‚” Daniels said.

“When it’s you‚ the person that is affected‚ it’s a whole different ball game. Objectively and rationally you know those things‚ but then when you get down to the nitty-gritty you have to think‚ ‘I can’t just go to a supermarket anymore’.”

The Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) found on Tuesday that Eskom suspending Daniels was an unfair labour practice.

“The respondent party Eskom is ordered to uplift the suspension with immediate effect and take the applicant back into its employ with effect from March 19 2018‚” CCMA commissioner Prince Kekana ruled.

Eskom was also ordered to pay Daniels her salary for the five months she was suspended.

Daniels blew the whistle on state capture at Eskom while testifying in parliament last year.

She compiled a report implicating senior Eskom managers in the Trillian/McKinsey saga. Eskom paid global consultancy McKinsey and Guptalinked financial firm Trillian R1.6-billion.

Daniels also issued letters of demand to McKinsey and Trillian in October to the value of R1.6-billion.

She was suspended shortly after the letters of demand were sent by then acting chief executive Sean Maritz. Maritz has since been suspended and subsequently resigned.

Daniels thanked her faith‚ family‚ friends and South Africans for their support.

She said whistleblowing in the corporate sector was tough‚ because one did not know where the information was going to end up.

“The people that you think you can trust, you can’t – they end up being the ones that try and vilify you‚ try and make you out to be a liar‚ discredit you and call you an emotional woman.”

Times Select reported last month that Daniels believed she was under surveillance after a suspicious vehicle was seen outside her house in Pretoria.

Police spoke to neighbours‚ security guards in the street and reviewed CCTV footage. They found at least three cars had been seen in the vicinity‚ at one point stopping together in the road while the drivers spoke to each other. Police are investigating a case of intimidation. Daniels described her home as “Fort Knox”. “I am not used to living like that‚ but you also recognise what is necessary.” – TimesLIVE, with additional reporting by Kyle Cowan