Eskom inquiry: multiple witnesses to tell it all
RAND MERCHANT Investment (RMI) wobbled slightly yesterday after the company revealed that its OUTsurance and RMI Investment Managers chief executives would be leaving the company at the end of the year.
The shares eased 1.09 percent to R40.95 at the close of business on the JSE after RMI said OUTsurance boss Willem Roos would leave the company to take up an executive position with 4G+ mobile start-up business Rain Mobile while his RMI Investment Managers counterpart Chris Meyer would be relocating to Australia. Roos would, however, retain his shareholding in OUTsurance and remain on the board of the company he co-founded in 1998.
“The RMI board extends its appreciation to Willem (Roos) for his immense contribution. Willem has left a lasting mark on the OUTsurance business that he founded and on the broader RMI group,” RMI said. RMI is the biggest shareholder in Discovery and MMI Holdings which together have a combined market value of more than R90 billion.
“Willem remains committed to OUTsurance and will support the business through this transition.”
Rain is 20 percent owned by the Patrice Motsepe-led investment vehicle African Rainbow Capital Investments (Arci) which listed in the Speciality Finance Sector on the main board of the JSE last month.
The Cape Town-based Rain looks set to launch an assault on the telecoms market after appointing former FNB chief executive Michael Jordaan as its chairperson, while Roos is rumoured to be destined for the chief executive role.
In September, Arci placed much premium on its investment in Rain after it said it planned to use proceeds from its listing to fund the balance of the price tag for Rain – it’s biggest investment to date. Arci said that Rain was on track to meet a target of 2 000 sites by the end of the year, 5 000 next year and 10 000 in coming years. It said Rain held the only licence in the 2 600 megahertz band – the most sought-after by operators.
Joint venture
Meyer joined RMI in 2014 to succeed former Deutsche Bank in South Africa chief executive Herman Bosman. He previously headed the brokerage joint venture between Rand Merchant Bank and Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg.
“Since starting the business in 2015, Chris has built a strong senior team of eight financial sector specialists, each with an average of ten to 20 years’ experience,” the company said. ESKOM’S shenanigans will be laid bare next week when Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises commences with an inquiry on the power utility.
The committee’s acting chairperson, Zukiswa Rantho, said yesterday that the inquiry was part of its oversight work on state-owned companies, including Eskom, Transnet and Denel.
Rantho said the committee would cast its net wide on witnesses to be called, and this would include the utility’s current and previous employees at the power utility.
“We have also had people who came forward and are willing to engage with us,” Rantho said. “Some of these people used to work there.”
She said the committee would not disrupt Eskom’s ongoing disciplinary processes against some of its executives.
The utility has suspended former interim chief executive Matshela Koko and chief financial officer Anoj Singh.
The two have been fingered for, among others, their role in ensuring that Eskom favours companies with links to the influential Gupta family. They were also mentioned – along with former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe – in the public protector’s report on state capture last year.
Rantho said the ongoing disciplinary processes would not discourage the committee from seeking answers.
“We will ask everything. Eskom will deal with the disciplinary processes,” she said.
The inquiry is expected to shine the spotlight on the raft of allegations of impropriety at the power utility including governance problems and corruption allegations.
Embodied
Eskom is also at the centre of so-called state capture, which has allegedly seen a corrupt clique wield control at key state-owned companies such as Eskom, Transnet and Denel. The South African Council of Churches (SACC) earlier this year said Eskom embodied state capture.
Parliament said the hearings would begin on Tuesday.
“The committee has decided that the names of the witnesses will not be publicised, for security reasons,” it said. “The committee is busy with the process of interacting with the witnesses to give them enough time to prepare for the inquiry. The committee has decided that the process of the inquiry will be made public.”
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said he did not know who the committee had called.