‘It means one of us is lying,and I am not lying’,says Brown
PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has dismissed claims by former Eskom board chairperson Zola Tsotsi that he had a hand in the suspension of four executives.
This was after Tsotsi had dropped a bombshell in the inquiry in Parliament that President Jacob Zuma had instructed him to suspend the four executives. Brown also denied that she had ever consulted the Guptas in her work.
She told the inquiry yesterday that she was clean on matters related to Eskom and claims by other witnesses were not true.
She accused Tsotsi of lying in his testimony earlier that she had added the name of former finance director Tsholofelo Molefe on the list of executives to be suspended. Brown said she was astonished by Tsotsi’s claims that he met with Zuma without telling her.
“I found it astonishing that Tsotsi attended the meeting with the President without conferring with me or consulted with me,” she said. She did not supply the name of Molefe to be suspended.
“The fact that I did not (give Molefe’s name) and he did not, it means one of us is lying and I am not lying,” said Brown.
She said she was concerned about the suspensions, but they had to be done to get the company back on track. “I was concerned all four were going to be suspended and the company was a going concern at the time and if this was a way to get it operational, yes,” she said.
Brown also denied that the Guptas had a hand in the appointment of board members in state-owned entities.
In his bombshell in Parliament Tsotsi said Zuma had instructed him at his presidential house in Durban to suspend four executives at Eskom.
This related to the suspension of former chief executive Tshediso Matona, Molefe, Dan Marokane and Matshela Koko.
He said he was invited to a meeting by former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni and present at the meeting in Durban in March 2015 was Myeni’s son, Thalente, and lawyer Nick Lennell. Lenell has confirmed the meeting.
In a no-holds-barred testimony Tsotsi said he was also threatened by Tony Gupta if he did not agree to what they wanted at Eskom.
“When I have had the occasion to discuss something with Tony and he wants something from me and I was unable to give it to him he would say he will report me to ‘uBaba’ (Zuma) because I am working with baba’s enemies,” said Tsotsi.
Tsotsi said at the meeting Myeni introduced Linnell and a need to suspend the four executives. At that point Zuma entered the room where the meeting was.
“The President asked what the meeting was about and Dudu Myeni responded by recounting what I have just explained, the rationale for the inquiry and the concomitant need to suspend the executives,” said Tsotsi.
He said Zuma asked if he knew the executives who were to be suspended. Two days later the board suspended the four executives.
“When I left the President’s residence I left with the intention of testing this instruction, whether the board would have the appetite to do this, because the president does not have the powers to instruct the board,” he said.
At the board meeting other board members asked for Brown to come to the meeting.