Brian Molefe, the former CEO of Eskom, is accused of adopting delay strategies to avoid returning the approximately R10 million he received unduly after leaving the utility.
Molefe was recently ordered by the High Court in Pretoria to give back the more than R9.9 million he got from the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund. Molefe was given ten days to pay the amount due plus interest. However, News24 claims that the fund learned on Wednesday that Molefe plans to appeal the decision.
Brian Molefe defended his substantial package from Eskom when he testified before the State Capture Commission last year, despite having worked there for a very short time.
Despite working there for just one and a half years, Molefe received over R30 million in pension benefits upon his infamous resignation from the utility in December 2016.
To find out if he would be interested in leading the utility, which was having a hard time, then-Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown allegedly approached Molefe in 2015. He informed the commission that a permanent position at the utility had been offered to him. Brown later changed his mind and made a five-year contract offer instead, which Molefe rejected. The board then came up with a solution: Molefe, who was 49 at the time, would continue working until he was 54 while receiving retirement benefits for an additional nine years.
Along with former president Jacob Zuma, a number of individuals, including Molefe, are charged with facilitating the Guptas’ looting of public assets. The family originally controlled the Optimum mine, which provided coal to Eskom and secured contracts worth billions of rands.
In October 2016, Madonsela made her report public. Cellphone evidence presented in the report placed Molefe at the family’s house in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, at least 19 times between August 2015 and March 2016. It also showed that Molefe had made hundreds of calls to Ajay Gupta, the oldest Gupta brother.