EPPF must take urgent steps against Molefe – Solidarity

29 January 2020

Solidarity urges the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) to take all the necessary steps as soon as possible to ensure that former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe complies with the court order issued by the North Gauteng High Court.

This comes after the EPPF’s application to the High Court for an order that would comply Molefe to repay the alleged R7,769 million that had been paid to him unlawfully. The High Court found in 2019 that Molefe had been personally involved in unlawfully awarding pension money to the value of R30 million to him. R10 million of this money had been paid out to him personally.  

“It is clear to us that the EPPF is taking ownership and responsibility for their misconduct and unlawful actions when they paid out certain pension moneys to Mr Molefe, but it is important that results must now be obtained,” said Anton van der Bijl, Head of Labour Legal Services at the trade union Solidarity, who originally argued the case against Molefe.

Van der Bijl is concerned because Solidarity was not included in the latest court application, as the trade union was the driving force behind the original case against Molefe, and not the EPPF who initially refused to prosecute Molefe.

“This is merely another example of the unnecessary delays and postponements resulting in huge mistrust in the EPPF among our members and other Eskom workers. We really hope that this chapter can now be concluded, not only for the sake of current Eskom employees, but also for the sake of the Eskom Pension Fund’s beneficiaries who have been waiting for this case to be finalised. It is outrageous that such a major victory against corruption cannot be brought to a close simply because the EPPF refuses to take the steps needed to enforce a court order,” Van der Bijl concluded.

Issued by Anton van der Bijl, Head: Labour Legal Services, Solidarity, 29 January 2020