Most of the time, when Eskom issues a press release, South Africans close their eyes in fear of seeing another notice on load-shedding. This week the power utility reported on the surprising success of having R30m returned to it from the Eskom Provident and Pension Fund. It’s money that would have gone to former Eskom executive Brian Molefe, who had only worked for Eskom 15 months, after the power utility agreed to pay his pension as if he had worked there for 13 years.
“What is most disturbing is the total lack of dignity and shame by people in leadership positions who abuse public funds with naked greed for their own benefit, without a moment’s consideration of the circumstances of fellow citizens who live in absolute squalor throughout the country with no basic services,” the high court in Pretoria found in 2018.
While the pension fund is meant to repay R30m, Molefe himself will have to repay close to R10m, which he had taken as a lump-sum payment from the pension.
What is most encouraging in this development is that Eskom didn’t wait until a criminal case was concluded before attempting to go after Molefe. Instead, it sought sound legal advice and was able to get taxpayers’ funds returned. Molefe was arrested in August, and the criminal case against him is likely to take months to get under way.
According to the NPA’s annual report, the AFU has a success rate of 99%, and in the last financial year was able to obtain freezing orders for R5.5bn in corruption-linked assets.
This is partly due to the criminal justice system being overwhelmed, and the NPA and police having limited staff to tackle complex commercial crimes.
The Eskom case and the work of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) are two good examples of how corruption can be fought on more than one front, and the likes of Molefe don’t get to benefit from ill-gotten gains while their cases make their way slowly through the courts.
According to the NPA’s annual report, the AFU has a success rate of 99%, and in the last financial year was able to obtain freezing orders for R5.5bn in corruption-linked assets.
The preservation orders include one for the Gupta-linked Tegeta Explorations, another for a Zimbabwean citizen caught leaving SA with gold hidden “inside a Johnny Walker Red Label whisky box” and email fraudsters who scammed US citizens of R24m which was routed through local bank accounts.
While not all the freezing orders will result in the assets being forfeited, the AFU gets millions back each year that can be redirected to legitimate state projects.
Hopefully Eskom will do the same by directing the recovered funds to legitimate needs in the power utility.
Part of the reason cases like these work is because they operate in a different area of law that relies on courts deciding on a balance of probabilities as opposed to beyond reasonable doubt. It also does not rely on overworked prosecutors to provide evidence, instead using skilled forensic investigators to trace the money trail and explain to the courts why the money was obtained illegally and why it should be returned.
Other state-owned entities who lost funds during the state capture period should take a leaf out of Eskom’s book and make the effort to go after money that was stolen during the capture period.
It’s one way to make corruption less desirable and lucrative to those who think they’ll retire nicely to the Bahamas with our tax rands.
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