Molefe ‘retired’ to protect new wife from media frenzy – Eskom chair

Cape Town – Eskom CEO Brian Molefe asked chairperson Ben Ngubane if he could exercise his early retirement option to shield the woman he was about to marry from the media frenzy following the Public Protector’s State of Capture report in November 2016.

Ngubane shared this insight into Molefe’s thinking with media on the sidelines of the African Utility Week, after the Eskom CEO cancelled his opening address speech one day after resuming his role.

The Eskom chair said Molefe “was absolutely devastated” by the State of Capture report in November 2016. “He came to me and said he thinks he needs to exercise his early retirement option,” he said.

Ngubane said he tried to persuade Molefe that over the long period this will be disastrous for him. “He even told me that he was getting married soon and he couldn’t have his wife waking up every day to these funny things in the press,” said Ngubane.

“I told him that the board accepts that you want to exercise your early retirement option.”

Ngubane said it then became an administrative issue of the Eskom Pension Board. “We were not even aware of the quantum (R30m pension payout) that was involved.”

Molefe shed tears during a media conference last year when Eskom first addressed the Public Protector report, which implicated him with the sale of Optimum coal mine from Glencore to Gupta-owned Tegeta. Soon afterwards, he announced he was stepping down as CEO to clear his name.

Eskom chair Ben Ngubane tells the story behind the Tegeta coal deal

Ngubane moving on to 2015 load shedding and sale of Optimum to Tegeta in his impromptu media briefing at #AUW2017:

“Do you realise that winter was coming and we still had load shedding? Then the quarrel with Optimum and Glencore surfaced, because Glencore wanted us to give an export price per tonne of coal, which then would have increased from R150 to more than R500 per tonne of coal. Then Brian said we can’t do that.  

“He (Molefe) was looking for an alternative because Optimum said it won’t provide a single ounce of coal to Hendrina Power Station. That would have meant that we would be losing 2000MW immediately. And it was going to be winter.  

“He (Molefe) did a lot of negotiations with Tegeta, which was the nearest mine to the power station. I am surprised when people say, ‘why was he speaking to Tegeta or Oakbay or whoever. He had to. And then indeed we did not have load shedding. 

“We had sufficient coal trucked in, brought in, and built up the stocks to more than a million tonnes of coal.       

“Now we are having another problem, because Treasury has not signed our coal purchase agreements.          

“And now we are in winter and winter is getting bitter. The people are using electricity like crazy – 34 000 MW.”        

Ngubane on why Molefe wanted pension payout

Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane on CEO Brian Molefe’s reaction to the damning Public Protector report on state capture and why he wanted to exercise his pension payout option:

“He (Molefe) was absolutely devastated. He came to me and said he thinks he needs to exercise his early retirement option.”

Ngubane said he tried to persuade Molefe that over the long period this will be disastrous for him.

“He even told me that he was getting married soon and he couldn’t have his wife waking up every day to these funny things in the press.

“I told him that the board accepts that you want to exercise your early retirement option.”

Ngubane said it then became an administrative issue of the Eskom Pension Board. “We were not even aware of the quantum (R30m pension payout) that was involved.”

Ngubane explains R30m pension payout for Molefe

Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane responding to CEO Brian Molefe’s R30 pension payout: “No, no (when asked if Brian Molefe held a gun to the Eskom board over the R30m pension payout). 

“When (Brian) Molefe came in 2015, there was a problem because we came with an understanding that he was going to be permanent. 

“After we had signed those contracts it came about (through Cabinet) that it can’t be permanent; it must be five years. 

“The losses that he would suffer because of that change came to the fore and our people in governance sat with him, recommended to the board (this is way back – 2015) that if we buy 10 years pension for him to compensate for the gap that we created in his pension when he retired in five years’ time.”

Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane on why Brian Molefe skipped #AUW2017: “He (Brian Molefe) was going to be here, but somehow he was called to Parliament for something. 

Asked if Brian Molefe would be embarrassed to open the African Utility Week, Ngubane laughed …”embarrassed!?” 

“He (Brian Molefe) is to start where he left off. It’s going to be for the good (of the people). He will make electricity affordable for the people.

“Our objective is to lower the cost of electricity in the country. (We will do this) by paying back the government guarantees, generating enough revenue, creating savings through efficiencies like the design to cost programme.  

“We are going to move forward.”

Ngubane punts Eskom smart meter deal as Molefe skips conference

Cape Town – Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Dikobe Ben Martins and Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane said while South Africa has come a long way with electrifying the nation, key issues which require collaboration with the stakeholders attending the African Utility Week still need to be addressed.

Martins and Ngubane gave two keynote addresses at the opening of the power conference in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Ngubane announced that Eskom would become the first energy partner to endorse Huawei’s OpenLab in smart grid innovation. “The Huawei-Eskom collaboration will seek to develop the next-era of power internet of things, power cloud, transmission and distribution telecom and cyber security solutions, as well as advanced analytics for grid operations, in order to drive digital transformation in the industry,” he said.

Martins pointed to power outages in Africa reducing gross domestic product by 2% to 4% per year. He called on stakeholders at the conference to work together to find solutions to the power issues facing Africa and South Africa.

Eskom CEO Brian Molefe had been set to give the address, but Ngubane said he had been called away to tend to “urgent business”.

Molefe cancels opening power conference

Cape Town – Eskom CEO Brian Molefe on Tuesday cancelled delivering a keynote address at the African Utility Week in Cape Town on Tuesday, a day after returning to his old job.

African Utility Week spokesperson Annemarie Roodbol told Fin24 that Eskom spokespeople had confirmed he would attend on Tuesday morning, but then there was a sudden change to the plans.

Eskom chairperson Ben Ngubane, who was set to speak after Molefe, will address the conference, as well as Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Dikobe Ben Martins.

The last-minute cancellation follows AmaBhungane’s expose on Tuesday, where former mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi alleged that Molefe and Ngubane pressurised him to help the Guptas takeover Glencore’s coal mine in 2016.

READ: Ramatlhodi spills beans on how Molefe ‘helped’ Guptas

It also follows mass resistance to Molefe’s return to Eskom, with the African National Congress seeking Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown to reverse her decision to reappoint Molefe and/or dissolve the Eskom board.