If you can’t laugh, you’ll cry, right?
Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo seems to have reached a point where he cannot help but laugh at events that unfolded at Eskom in 2015, the year it was downgraded by Moody’s and from which it has never recovered.
From being “shocked” to finding some of the evidence led about the power utility “strange”, Zondo on Tuesday burst out laughing when he heard how Zola Tsotsi was removed as chairperson.
On Tuesday, the state capture commission heard evidence from former Eskom board member Dr Ben Ngubane about the removal of Tsotsi in an eventful March 2015.
Several witnesses have presented different versions of why Tsotsi was pressured to resign by his colleagues on the board, who wanted to vote him out.
The commission dealt with a charge sheet Ngubane and other board members formulated against him.
The charges included that Tsotsi leaked a press statement without the consent of the rest of the board. He also allegedly pushed for two individuals to replace then CEO Tshediso Matona and head of technology Matshela Koko, who were to be suspended.
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The board alleged that Tsotsi wanted Malesela Sekhasimbi, who was on suspension, to act in place of Koko, while he proposed Mongezi Ntsokolo, who was head of generation, to act in Matona’s position.
Tsotsi was also charged with bringing in consultant Nick Linnell without following proper procedures, but Ngubane said “I was quite happy with Mr Linnell”.
Tsotsi’s proposals did not pass muster with the board and it went on to charge him.
Zondo found this laughable.
“My impression seems to be that these charges against Mr Tsotsi had no basis really ... The board put some charges together ..., scared him a little bit and then sent you to talk to him,” laughed Zondo.
The commission also heard how Gupta associates Nazeem Howa and Salim Essa had known about Tsotsi’s removal 11 days before it was to be tabled before a board meeting.
Howa and Essa knew this on March 19 and prepared a press statement to announce his removal. The revelation emerged through e-mail exchanges that show the duo was talking about Tsotsi’s removal before it happened.
On March 30, Tsotsi was forced to resign after his Eskom board colleagues threatened to vote him out, but he asked them not to, in an attempt to protect his reputation. The board agreed provided he resign, which he did.
Zondo expressed shock that Eskom outsiders had intimate details of internal happenings at the power utility well before they took place. This, he said, would suggest they might have been behind such developments.
“It is possible somebody who may have wanted the board to make the decision to remove Mr Tsotsi as chairperson might have gone around to canvass support from board members and told Mr Howa this is what the board will decide.
“That would be very concerning if somebody from within the board tells people outside of Eskom about decisions likely to be made by the board.
“It is even more worrying if the position is that Mr Howa and Mr Essa were making decisions outside of Eskom that they wanted the board to take, and they had an expectation the board would take those decisions. That would mean the board was not acting independently, but is manipulated by people outside.”
