Big six lenders warned Brown

The World Bank and five other international finance institutions urged Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to clean out the Eskom board and management.

But Brown ignored the letter, which was copied to Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and sent in November, and instead reappointed tainted executives Matshela Koko and Prish Govender.

Last weekend, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a new board chaired by Jabu Mabuza, but this was not enough to prevent ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service from downgrading Eskom’s creditworthiness further on Friday.

The letter to Brown detailed how the six development finance institutions were “extremely concerned about the number of governance and compliance issues” at Eskom.

Eskom’s interim results, delayed since November, are due out on Tuesday. The new board’s priority is to raise R20-billion.

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