Eskom‘s former acting financial director on Wednesday refuted testimony before the Zondo commission of former group chief executive Matshela Koko around the suspension of key executives in 2015.
Nonkululeko Dlamini testified Koko demanded a copy of her CV before he, along with three other key executives, were suspended.
Koko summoned Dlamini to a meeting at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg and when she said she was in a strategy session, they eventually met in Midrand later.
In the brief meeting, he said he wanted her CV because the then financial director of Eskom, Tsholofelo Molefe, might be suspended.
Judge Raymond Zondo, who is heading the inquiry into state capture, interjected here to suggest Koko probably asked for Dlamini’s CV because he wanted to see if there was someone suitably qualified to replace Molefe.
Had there not been, the suspension may not have gone ahead, he ventured.
Koko has denied the discussions and, terming Dlamini a close family friend, submitted they were both surprised when she was made acting finance director.
Dlamini said this could not have been the case and she was not surprised as he had informed her of the pending suspension.
A transcript of her phone records showed Koko tried to call Dlamini at least six times on March 10.
Koko, who was at the time the commercial executive of Eskom, Molefe, group head of capital Dan Marokane and then chief executive Tshediso Matona were then suspended by the Eskom chairman at the time, Zola Tsotsi, under mysterious circumstances, in accordance with a decision taken on March 11.
Marokane told the commission this week he was blindsided by the move.
Like others in the group who were suspended, he said he was informed that it was not done because of indications of wrongdoing on his part but because the board wanted to embark on a fact-finding inquiry and its thinking was that the executives must move aside to prevent any interference.
Tsotsi last month told the commission he had come to believe the suspensions may have been a ploy to replace executives with people more pliant to the needs of the Gupta family, who are at the centre of the rent-seeking scandal.
After their departure, Brian Molefe became chief executive of Eskom and Anoj Singh the chief financial officer of the power utility.
Of the three suspended executives, Koko was the only one who was reinstated.
Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit earlier this year instituted special legal proceedings to recover about R3.8 billion from Molefe, Singh and Koko, the Gupta brothers, former board chairman Ben Ngubane, board members Mark Pamensky and Chwayita Mabude and former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane.
The claim relates to funds diverted from the debt-laden company to the Gupta brothers and their associates in a slew of suspect deals.
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