DA to submit PAIA application for Molefe’s employment contract

18 April 2017

The DA will today submit an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to gain access to the employment contract of former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, for his 18-month tenure at the helm of Eskom.

The DA believes that the exorbitant R30 million Molefe received from Eskom may not have been a pension pay-out as he claims, but rather a golden handshake.

As CEO of Eskom, Molefe’s salary was close to R7 million per annum. According to Eskom’s website, total pension contributions amount to 20.8% of a salary. Therefore, Molefe should have received an estimated R2.2 million maximum as a pension pay-out for 18 months of work, instead of the reported R30 million.

If there is nothing irregular about this so-called pension payment, neither Eskom nor Molefe will have any issue with making his contract public.

It is unacceptable that Molefe received such a large pay-out, considering that he willingly resigned as CEO of Eskom after he was named in the former Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela’s, State of Capture Report.

The DA has already written to the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, to request that she investigate this R30 million golden handshake and the basis for this pay-out.

This R30 million is nowhere near the R2.2 million he is entitled to, and should the Public Protector find that this pay-out was irregular, Molefe must pay back the money immediately.

In a country where millions of people struggle to put food on the table on a daily basis and infrastructure projects collect dust on shelves, the DA will not condone millions to be wasted on underperforming former executives. Public money should be spent on improving the lives of all South Africans, not just the connected few.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 18 April 2017