Under then-Transnet chief executive Brian Molefe
There’s been a new development in the ongoing saga involving Brian Molefe and Eskom.
At the weekend, Eskom confirmed that Molefe intended to challenge the rescinding of his reappointment as Eskom’s chief executive. Molefe’s reappointment had lasted just three weeks, during which time it had sparked an outcry from both the media and political sectors.
The Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and Eskom have yet to file their affidavits in response to Molefe’s challenge, which is why it couldn’t be heard in the Labour Court yesterday. Now, the Democratic Alliance has entered the fray.
The DA initially intended to approach the high court in Pretoria to have Molefe’s reappointment set aside. It will now ask if its application can be postponed – pending the outcome of Molefe’s Labour Court case – and will request that he not be allowed to return to work in the interim.
It has also added its voice to the Labour Court case, saying it doesn’t want Molefe reappointed as Eskom’s chief executive.
The DA’s James Selfie says that his party’s application to review Molefe’s “inexplicable reappointment” will go ahead if Molefe’s application succeeds.
“Mr Molefe’s Labour Court case is based on the belief that his reappointment to Eskom on 11 May 2017 was a rational decision for the Eskom Board to make, but the DA contends that it was certainly not,” said Selfie.
“We view Mr Molefe’s urgent Labour Court action as nothing more than desperation. No doubt Mr Molefe’s cronies at Saxonwold were very unhappy that their man-in-Eskom is on his way out.
“The DA believes that South Africa deserves better than the cohort of pliable senior officials, installed by Jacob Zuma’s ANC, to plunder our state-owned entities for their own selfish gain, at public expense,” he concluded. – htxt.africa