Molefe loses round one to DA and EFF in his court bid

FORMER Eskom boss Brian Molefe will tomorrow face off with opposition parties in court after fighting hard to block them from forming part of his bid to get his job back.

Yesterday, Molefe lost a Labour Court attempt to stop the EFF and DA from being part of his urgent application to get his Eskom chief executive position back.

Labour Court Judge Connie Prinsloo ordered that the two political parties be part of proceedings.

Now that they have been allowed to take part in the court proceedings, they are going to argue that Molefe is not suitable for the position and his reappointment should be deemed null, because he had resigned from the position.

Molefe’s legal representative advocate Noel Graves SC, argued that though Eskom was a state-owned entity, it was also a company like any other, and therefore his client was entitled to a closed trial as he had been unfairly dismissed.

Graves claimed the DA and EFF were trying to score political points and had no reason to be part of the case.

His argument was dismissed by the EFF representative, Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, who said Molefe’s effort to try to stop them from being part of the case was frivolous.

The two political parties joined Public Enterprise Minister Lynne Brown in trying to ensure that Molefe does not get his job back.

Molefe resigned after former public protector Thuli Madonsela released a report in February that indicated that he had close links with the Gupta family.

Molefe returned to his position after three months of serving as a member of Parliament.

His reappointment was rescinded by the Eskom board last month, and Johnny Dladla was appointed as the group acting chief executive.

Paul Kennedy, representing the DA, argued that Molefe could not at the same time be a chief executive in a state-owned entity and be a member of Parliament.

“How then was he able to go to Parliament if he had not resigned?”

The DA’s James Selfe said this case would be able to assist the party in a separate high court bid to stop Molefe from executing his duties at Eskom.

In that case, Molefe says he wants his job back so he can fight the DA’s claim that he is not fit for office.

“We will on Thursday prove that Molefe was unlawfully reappointed into the position and that he was an employee all along. And that his reappointment was wrong in the extreme,” Selfe said.