Eskom told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts that it was targeting suppliers mentioned in the Zondo report
Debt-ridden Eskom has purged itself of all employees named in the Zondo state capture report, parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) heard on Tuesday during a sitting at the power utility’s Megawatt Park headquarters.
The head of legal and compliance at the state-owned enterprise, Mel Govender, told Scopa members that, to date, “[T]here are no employees as identified in the Zondo report who are in the employ of Eskom.”
Twelve detailed dossiers had also been prepared on delinquent directors, something Govender described as another “big ticket item”.
“To date, we have handed over four of these dossiers to [the department of public enterprises] and the [Companies and Intellectual Property Commission] and we are awaiting feedback on those.”
In a statement released in March this year, Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana said the company was pursuing R3.8 billion through civil action against 12 defendants “who played a central role in state capture”.
“Seven of the 12 defendants are former Eskom executives and directors,” he said.
In his final report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the state capture commission, recommended that most of Eskom’s prior board of directors and former executives, including Matshela Koko, Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh, be investigated and possibly prosecuted for their alleged roles in enabling the infamous Gupta family to loot Eskom, for substantial kickbacks.
Said Zondo of the previous Eskom board: “The 2014 Eskom board and senior executives repeatedly denied wrongdoing and even actively intervened or stopped Eskom from taking the necessary legal steps to have [several suspicious or tainted] contracts reviewed and recover associated payments.”
Govender told Scopa that another matter Eskom’s state capture task team — led by herself — was driving “quite hard” was disciplinary action related to suppliers mentioned in the Zondo report.
“We haven’t initiated disciplinary action yet, and there is a specific reason for that. The view we have taken there is that we would like the criminal process to actually run its course, so that when we do take disciplinary action, and any potential for recovery from a civil perspective, it follows a hierarchy of order.
“Simultaneously, in terms of supplier discipline, we have to date initiated 76 supplier disciplinary matters. There was initially a backlog of 126, and through Eskom’s state capture task team, we are working hard to close that out.”
As for allegations about criminal syndicates and widespread corruption at Eskom made by former group chief executive André de Ruyter in his controversial television interview in February, Govender said these had not brought Eskom into disrepute, in her opinion.
De Ruyter had been serving out his resignation period when he gave the interview, which led to his employment immediately being terminated.
De Ruyter repeated the corruption allegations in his bestselling book, Truth to Power. Govender said the allegations he made in the interview and book were not new, just repackaged.
The company was still awaiting the Fivaz private intelligence report, commissioned by De Ruyter, in which the allegations were contained, she said.
“We have appointed a legal firm to assist us with dealing with these averments. The first step was to engage with the former GCE and George Fivaz, which has taken place. They have committed to providing us with a copy of the report, and the report has [also] been requested from the SIU, which we believe has a copy of it.”
The Special Investigating Unit last month told Scopa that it had obtained a copy of the Fivaz report, which was being subjected to “SIU investigation methodology and protocols”.
The SIU head, Andy Mothibi, told Scopa at that time: “We are acutely aware that we have to deal with this report as urgently as possible and speedily to determine the course of action.”
He said the SIU was also investigating how the report — funded by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and captains of industry — was commissioned.
The report allegedly cost R50 million, of which R18 million was funded by the BLSA.
Govender said De Ruyter’s book had made available the opportunity to tighten protocols about who at Eskom spoke to the media. “Protocol isn’t as strict as it should be, and it is not followed. This is an opportunity for us to enhance our internal controls, to look at technology that can be implemented to ensure these leakages can be monitored.”
This was a work in progress and was being managed by the company secretary, she said.