Molefe removed from Eskom

GOVERNMENT ordered that Brian Molefe’s return to the helm of Eskom be rescinded and conceded that it inflicted reputational harm on the country and the power utility.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown told a media briefing she met the Eskom board and instructed it to remove Molefe from the post, following a decision by an inter-ministerial commission that considered the circumstances surrounding his controversial re-appointment last month.

Brown said she would appoint an acting chief executive within 48 hours, and hinted that she could also remove the board over the debacle that drew criticism from the ANC and sent the opposition to court to demand Molefe’s removal. She said she would wait until after Eskom’s annual general meeting in three weeks’ time.

She would not act sooner so as not to cause “more scurrying into the markets”.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba concurred that “there obviously has to be some consequences for this situation that we have come out of ”.

Brown said it was not clear to her at this stage whether Molefe would receive a termination pay-out, and she would discuss the issue with the board.

“I have an idea in my head but I can’t put my head on the table,” she said.

Molefe left Eskom under a cloud in November after he was implicated in then-public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture. He was reappointed to his old post two weeks ago, for the stated reason that he was mistakenly granted early retirement which would entitle him to a pension payout of R30 million, a move that was vetoed by Brown.

The ministerial committee said yesterday it was of the view that the board could have corrected administrative errors relating to Molefe’s contract in other ways than reinstating him. Gigaba said government’s decision should not be seen as a reflection on Molefe, who previously headed Transnet and served as an ANC MP for a few months this year.