Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe has denied any knowledge of the alleged grand plan to appoint him as finance minister in 2017, which saw him surprisingly emerging as an ANC MP after he controversially left the power utility.
Molefe resumed testifying before the commission of inquiry into state capture on Wednesday, where his evidence included how he was forced to leave the utility, his brief stint in parliament and his short-lived return as Eskom boss.
He said he had felt compelled to leave Eskom due to the heavy weight of the allegations contained in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report about his alleged dodgy and corrupt associations with the controversial Gupta family.
“When you are the CEO and you are accused of corruption and all sorts of things, even when they have not been proven, how do you face your employees every day?” Molefe asked.
Molefe said he decided to take early retirement, even though it was declared unlawful as he had not reached retirement age.
Molefe said he had been approached by the North West ANC a few months later to represent the party in parliament where he served for two months in early 2017.
“I said I would be. It sounds like a good place to retire to…just raise points of order, so I agreed,” Molefe said.
Commission chairperson, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, however quizzed Molefe on the allegations that his deployment as an MP was part of the plan by former president Jacob Zuma, with the blessing of the Gupta family, to appoint him as a replacement of then finance minister Pravin Gordhan who was fired about the same period.
The ANC top six officials at the time, including ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, then secretary-general and current national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, and former treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize have confirmed that Zuma had expressed his intentions to appoint Molefe as finance minister, which they opposed.
Zondo also pointed to the evidence by former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas that one of the Gupta brothers had indicated that Molefe was working closely with the family and that his career was “taken care of”.
Zondo also pointed to evidence that Gupta associates had known his career moves to Transnet and Eskom before they happened, dating back to 2010.
“If the evidence on affidavit by Dr Zweli Mkhize, Ms Jessie Duarte and Mr Mantashe is true, we then know that [former] president Zuma wanted to replace Mr Gordhan with you as minister of finance. And then you leave, after Gordhan has left and Mr [Malusi] Gigaba has been appointed. You go back to Eskom,” Zondo said.
Molefe declined to comment or explain any of the alleged coordination of his purported appointment to the finance ministry, adding that “this great plan, I was never aware of it”.
Instead, Molefe listed his illustrious career and educational acumen and pointed out that his accumulated competence was speaking for him.
“I do not need anybody who meets Mr Jonas in a corridor somewhere to be dealing with my career. My career does not need exogenous factors. I can take care of myself,” he said.
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