Labour Court halts Eskom’s attempt to fire executive

ESKOM head of generation, Matshela Koko, has been given a reprieve by the Labour Court after it yesterday blocked attempts by the power utility to fire him until his application is heard early next month.

Eskom acting chief executive Phakamani Hadebe had given Koko an ultimatum to resign or be fired by this week. Koko rushed to the Labour Court to block the move.

He would have been added to the list of senior officials at Eskom to go, following the decision by the Presidency last Saturday for the new board, chaired by Jabu Mabuza, to remove all officials implicated in corruption.

This week, former Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh resigned.

He was followed by acting head of group capital, Prish Govender, and the senior manager for outages, Dhiraj Bhimma, yesterday.

Acting commercial manager Charles Kalima also left this week.

In his court papers, Koko said he would not go and Eskom had no right to fire him. He said it would be unlawful to terminate his employment contract based on the instruction of the statement from the government.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe could not be reached for comment.

Koko faced tough questions in Parliament over his role in the multimillion-rand contracts awarded to the Guptas.

He denied any links with the Guptas or being involved in the deals.