Eskom's Koko accuses former colleagues of corruption

Eskom's suspended CEO Matshela Koko has accused some of his colleagues of corruption and said he was being targeted for trying to stop it.

Koko handed in a document alleging France Hlakudi‚ a former project manager at Kusile station‚ had received a bribe of R61m from Tubular Construction Projects‚ a contractor of Eskom.

The money was electronically paid into a bank account of Hlakudi Translation & Interpretation‚ said Koko. From this‚ Hlakudi Translation paid retainers to some of Eskom's employees.

Koko was testifying in his own defense at the utility's headquarters in Johannesburg on Thursday.

He is facing six charges‚ including his alleged failure to declare a conflict of interest in which his stepdaughter Koketso Choma owned shares in a company awarded a tender by a division he led.

He is also accused of undermining his colleagues and irregularly removing some from their positions‚ including Hlakudi.

The charges emanate from a forensic probe that was instituted after a whistleblower report.

"I wanted Hlakudi to be removed because a whistleblower gave me an invoice of money that went into France Hlakudi's account. An amount of R61-million was paid to the his account and R38-million of it was withdrawn from the bank in cash‚" said Koko.

He said that former and current employees were on the retainer‚ including projects manager at Eskom Nombasa Mantashe‚ daughter of ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe‚ who is said to have received R978 000 to date from Hlakudi.

Another employee‚ Mildred Nyoka‚ a senior contracts manager at Kusile power station‚ received R200,000 from Hlakudi Translations‚ according to Koko.

This comes as the police are investigating allegations that the leaders of one of the country’s largest unlisted construction companies conspired with Eskom officials to oust international power giant Alstom from a contract at Kusile and paid a bribe of R20-million in the process.

"This payment from Patrice Tiberi‚ an employee of Tubula [Construction Projects]‚ deposited R400,000 into the account of Hlakudi Translation‚ of which Hlakudi is the sole director. He did this on September 2 - the same day Hlakudi was authorised by the board tender committee to negotiate the contract with Tubula‚" Koko revealed.

The allegations against Tiberi‚ part of the Tubular Holdings Group‚ include the manipulation of tender processes to initially decrease the contract value to fall within the influence of their friend at Eskom and‚ recently‚ almost doubling it to more than R1-billion.

The suspended CEO said both Nyoka and Mantashe had been involved in tenders that were submitted at Eskom on behalf of Tubular.

"This is what gave Hlakudi the arrogance of continuing what he was doing because he thought he was protected. As a matter of fact‚ I'm being charged about moving Hlakudi but Hlakudi never moved from his position up until I was suspended. Once I instructed Hlakudi to be removed‚ the media frenzy started‚" added Koko.

Koko‚ 48‚ also accused Mantashe of being in Hlakudi's retainer for the past two years which is a "prospect of crime" from Tubula.

Eskom has alleged that Koko in February this year instructed Frans Sithole‚ a project director at Kusile‚ to remove Hlaukudi; a project manager for a consultant company at Kusile‚ Gopal Kambi; and a company called GTC from the Kusile project.

- TimesLIVE