Eskom chair hits out at public protector report

3 November 2016

Johannesburg - Eskom Chairperson Dr Ben Ngubane hit out at former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture at an interim results briefing on Thursday.

The report on state capture was released on Wednesday after President Jacob Zuma withdrew a bid to halt the release of the investigation.

The report criticises Eskom, slamming the company over improper hiring of its board properly and also asking questions about its deals with Gupta-linked mining company Tegeta and the purchase of the Optimum mine.

In the report Eskom CEO Brian Molefe was also shown to have a close relationship with the Guptas, as evidenced by his visits to their Saxonwold compound in Johannesburg and his phone calls to Ajay Gupta.

But Ngubane slammed the report.

“She (Madonsela) did not call us in as a board. She committed to doing that but she never did,” said Ngubane.

“No one should be allowed to tear down this country on the basis of speculation,” he said.

Eskom is further set to have a media briefing on the matter on Friday.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will hear more about this tomorrow,” said Ngubane.

This article first appeared on Fin24, see here.