DA strongly opposes Nkululeko Poya’s appointment to CEF board
29 October 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is shocked by reports that former Railway Safety Regulator CEO, Nkululeko Poya, has been appointed to the new board of directors for the Central Energy Fund (CEF), which is the state-owned company mandated to provide sustainable energy security solutions for South Africa.
This is extremely worrying as Poya is currently the subject of two criminal investigations related to maladministration, corruption, and the unlawful surveillance and cellphone interception of his fellow board members. The DA will thus write to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, to request on what basis Poya was appointed, given the serious allegations leveled against him.
We cannot trust an individual publicly embedded in criminal investigations to conduct themselves in an ethical manner within CEF, when this body provides oversight to subsidiaries such as mining companies, the Petroleum Association of South Africa, PetroSA and the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF). PetroSA and the SFF alone have already lost billions to chronic mismanagement and corruption. To allow someone implicated in such acts to help run these very same companies is tantamount to putting a knife in the hands of a man implicated in a murder.
Furthermore, reports indicate that complaints lodged against Poya through the Public Protector’s Office have never been investigated, with claims of dockets going missing. One of the individuals affected by Poya’s illegal surveillance is Mail & Guardian journalist, Athandiwe Saba, who has categorically reported the following: