Eskom has a strangely confused acting CEO

THE stench of corporate corruption continues to emanate from Eskom’s headquarters at Megawatt Park as one scandal follows another.

The link between the previous scandal and the latest — “Billion-rand babe” (March 26) — is one Matshela Koko, promoted to the post of acting CEO of Eskom following the resignation, under a cloud, of Brian Molefe.

On his watch as group executive for generation, Koko signed a multibillion-rand contract with the Gupta-owned Tegeta coal producer, with an upfront payment of almost R600-million — which he infamously couldn’t remember when questioned by Carte Blanche.

Koko’s memory seems to have failed him again, this time in the case of his stepdaughter, Koketso Choma, 26, who lives in the same house as he does. But he would have us believe that they never discuss business.

Koko says he was unaware of her involvement in Impulse International that scored a billion rands’ worth of contracts from the division he headed at Eskom — after she had joined the company a year ago.

First he is reported to have said he only found out about her involvement with that company in February this year, and then said in an e-mail that he had known about it since August last year.

He seems rather absent-minded and confused by details involving hundreds of millions of rands.

The idiom that the fish rots from the head seems to be apt here.

Just how far down does the rot go at Eskom? — Colin Currell, Bryanston

We’re all in this together

AS much as colonialism was mostly about the subjugation of, and stealing from, the hosts of respective regions, it shouldn’t be used to vilify later generations who were not participants in its evil side.

Just like sidelining whites who were either apolitical, unaware of or indifferent to the brutality of apartheid, Helen Zille’s tweet bordered on the racist, but was really the celebration of perceived white supremacy over some black smart alecks.

I am not condoning Zille’s frustrated jibe, as there are many ignorant racists who believe that before white people arrived in Africa, there was no sky or sun, let alone oxygen to breathe for the “natives”.

Like it or not, as the legendary singer Al Jarreau put it, “we are in this love together” — meaning, in this context, the country, South Africa.

Let’s leave these colonialism jibes and add value to the country, and each other. — Luyanda Marlon Kama, KwaDwesi, Port Elizabeth

Focus on Zuma, not Zille

HOW disappointing that DA leader Mmusi Maimane wants Zille to quit over her tweet.

Colonialism was evil in many aspects, but the benefits it brought were many.

Maimane should be focusing on getting President Jacob Zuma — who has disregarded the law, spent taxpayers’ money on Nkandla and is mired in scandal — out.

Zuma and the ANC are rotten to the core.

Maimane should concentrate on ousting Zuma by gaining support so the DA makes great gains in the next election. — JM Chipkin, Fresnaye

Democratic right to speak

IT is good for Zille and those who think like her to express themselves. Depriving her of this democratic right is wrong.

This does not mean that what she said is correct. Actually, it shows how deep-seated the problem is. Praise for colonialism is flawed in every way.

I am not apologetic for opposing a history of exploitation and suppression of freedom to participate in your country of birth. Millions of South Africans were denied their basic human rights while all those “advancements” to civilisation took place.

The intention of colonialism was to benefit the imperialists, the settlers: the legacy of apartheid is landlessness, destruction of families and a perpetual cycle of poverty for the majority of black South Africans.

This country is not healed, and someone of Zille’s stature is not expected to be so immature on such a sensitive matter.

Today this country is struggling against corruption, the looting of state resources and the betrayal of the poor by the empty promises of their leaders.

It is thus unfortunate to find those purporting to lead society insulting the victories we have achieved, in part, such as decolonisation in 1994.

I say in part, because we still have unfinished business — the decolonisation of sectors such as education, the economy and land, to mention a few.

Having said that, in a democracy there is space for expression, and it gives us the opportunity to enlighten those with a lesser understanding or deviant intentions. — Sihle Dladla, Durban

Pandor: cynical, or genuine?

IT was refreshing to see Naledi Pandor raising questions about the lifestyles of her ANC cabinet colleagues, in “Why ‘rich ministers’ are a worry for Pandor” (March 26).

She says they live in houses that are bigger than hers, implying that they must have received these benefits through ill-gotten gains.

While the obvious point is welcome, I suspect Pandor’s awakening is based far more on the factional warfare within the ANC than a genuine Damascene transformation.

Certainly, Pandor’s voting record on, for example, the Nkandla report, in the National Assembly hardly demonstrates the zeal she now appears to be adopting.

But I do hope that she will do her duty as a citizen, and member of the legislative authority, and report these suspected acts of corruption to the law enforcement authorities.

She would be aware that the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (which she helped pass) was promulgated to deal with just such cases.

To be aware of suspected corrupt activities, share these publicly, and then not report them, would be hypocritical, and would expose as cynically expedient her apparent attempt to take a stand against such corruption. — John Steenhuisen, DA chief whip, Cape Town