OUTA has laid charges of fraud and financial misconduct against Eskom’s former Chief Executive, Brian Molefe, and former Chairman of the board, Ben Ngubane.
State Capture to date is said to have cost South Africa approximately R100bn.
When Brian Molefe tearfully announced in November 2016 that he was leaving Eskom, we all understood that he’d resigned. This later changed to different explanations, including retired. Molefe tried to get himself paid R30 million, apparently as a pension payout, with Ngubane’s help, which involved manipulating pension fund rules and Eskom having to pay the entire R30 million to the pension fund. Molefe wasn’t entitled to this payment.
WHAT IS OUTA DOING?
In August 2017, OUTA laid charges of fraud and financial misconduct against Molefe and Ngubane at the Randburg police station. OUTA will follow this up to encourage prosecution.
WHY IS THIS WRONGDOING?
Molefe worked for Eskom on a five-year contract from October 2015; he signed either that contract or a later one in April 2016 so, by the time he left Eskom at the end of December 2016, he’d been on contract there for 15 months at most. He could not have qualified for a R30 million pension. Both Molefe and Ngubane must have known that. Both were in positions in which they were supposed to safeguard Eskom’s finances. Instead, in February 2016 they were used a board sub-committee to agree that Eskom would pay the extra to allow directors on contract to retire early.