Minister muddles on as we stay in the Eskom dark
So it was all just a misunderstanding among friends, one imagines, after the news this week that former Eskom acting CEO Matshela Koko had been cleared of all charges in his disciplinary hearing, and is now ready to resume his career at the power utility. Like much else out of Eskom, the announcement was vague; it seems even Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown didn’t have the details of the proceedings when she addressed the media on Friday. In any event, Eskom chairman Zethembe Khoza said the decision on Koko would still have to make its way through a board process before an outcome was announced. So we still don’t know whether Koko will be back, or in what capacity.
Of course, Koko had pleaded his innocence in his submission to the hearing. According to him, two “documents” proved his innocence on charges of possible conflict of interest arising from his stepdaughter Koketso Choma’s directorship and shareholding in Impulse International, a company which won substantial Eskom contracts. These two documents, he claimed, had been presented to former CEO Brian Molefe and former board chairman Ben Ngubane.
And with two such pillars of rectitude in his corner, who would dare to fault Koko? Certainly not Brown, who in one breath bemoans the culture of secrecy at Eskom, and in the next takes pot shots at anyone who would question the thievery that has helped drive Eskom into the ground. Witness her statement on Friday to the new board, about the private sector: “They make accounting mistakes while you are susceptible to corruption, capture, greed, and malice. Who they associate with is inconsequential. They call it lobbying. You must be careful who you play golf with because it will be used as evidence against you.”
It’s not the golf we’re worried about, minister, it’s the free-for-all scrum of thievery and corruption that’s of more concern. Brown assures us that by “June 2018” the “investigative and disciplinary processes into alleged malfeasance involving some of Eskom’s senior members will have been completed”. Not too long to go, then.
Until then, will it be plunder (sorry, business) as usual? So much power, so little light.