Former Eskom boss Brian Molefe has condemned the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, claiming it is prejudiced towards him and seeks to ambush and harass him.
Molefe criticised the commission in a letter from his lawyers representing him at the inquiry dated January 8, stating that the chairperson of the commission, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, and the commission’s secretary Professor Itumeleng Mosala had not responded to his two letters dated September 15 and December 21, respectively.
“We wish to place it on record, once more, that our client [Brian Molefe] is severely prejudiced by the commission’s failure to respond to his legitimate inquiries relating to his scheduled appearance in January 2021. We conveyed to the commission our client’s request to be informed in relation to his scheduled appearance on which role the commission intends to question him and to be afforded access to any documents relevant to his appearance. The commission has not responded to any of our inquiries,” read the letter.
Molefe is one of the key players linked to the state capture phenomenon as he headed Eskom during the period when many lucrative contracts were channeled to Gupta-linked entities. In her 2016 report into Eskom affairs among other things, former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said phone records showed that Molefe and Ajay Gupta had called each other 88 times and that Molefe’s cellphone placed him in the vicinity of the Gupta compound in Saxonwold 19 times.
Mpho Molefe from Molaba Attorneys, the law firm representing Molefe, confirmed the authenticity of the letter and that his client was scheduled to appear before the commission on January 15.
“On its own, not responding to legitimate inquiries is inconsistent with fairness and our client is seriously prejudiced that until now, he does not appreciate the scope of preparation that he needs in order to be of any use to the commission,” added the letter.
The lawyer said Mosala’s ‘failure or refusal to reply to his correspondence is deliberate and designed to embarrass his client when he appears before the commission without knowing what the commission was seeking from him".
The former Transnet CEO said he expected an urgent response from the judicial inquiry.
“Our client also reserves his rights to request a postponement based on the prejudicial and unfortunate conduct of the commission. We reiterate our client’s request as set out in previous correspondence is legitimate and must be addressed urgently by the commission so as to avoid prejudice.”
Reverend Mbuyiselo Stemela, spokesperson of the commission, said they needed more time to respond to accusations contained in Molefe’s letter.
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