Former Eskom acting CEO Matshela Koko, on 20 December, filed an application in the Gauteng high court to review and set aside certain “adverse findings” made against him contained in the Zondo report. He accused the Commission of having “failed to consider relevant evidence” brought by some witnesses who testified against him at the State Capture Inquiry.
In his lengthy 189-page affidavit, Koko accused the Commission of failing to examine witnesses who were, he claims, “hiding the truth”. He added that he had appeared before the Commission to give evidence nine times and handed in seven affidavits. However, Koko claims the Commission ignored the evidence he provided when it made its findings.
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“The commission was not following the evidence,” he said, adding that it was instead “on a hunt for Koko.”
Koko said that the Zondo Commission’s adverse findings, remarks and conclusions are not “rationally connected to the evidence before the Commission” and should be reviewed and set aside.
“The Commission’s findings, remarks and conclusions must be rationally related to the purpose for which the power was given,” he said.
“Otherwise, they are, in effect, arbitrary, inconsistent and unlawful.”
In his affidavit, Koko insists that he only ever acted based on the information that was available to him, and in what he believed were the best interests of Eskom.
“The advent of State Capture at Eskom, under my watch, if the Commission’s conclusions are anything to go by, have resulted in a marked improvement in Eskom’s financial and operational performance. That is fantastical,” said Koko.
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“It is tragic and irrational that I, the Eskom executive who has achieved the best operational improvement at Eskom since 2001 and has not subjected the country to any load shedding during my tenure, am presented by the Commission as the face of State Capture at Eskom when the evidence before the Commission shows that I at all times acted based on the information and advice that was available to me by what I at the time believed was the best interests of Eskom,” he continued.
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In the Eskom installment of the State Capture report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found Koko; former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe; and former Eskom chief financial officer, Anoj Singh to be among the former Eskom executives that played a pivotal role in the capture of the power utility, and for contracts worth R14.7-billion to be irregularly awarded to members of the Gupta family.
Zondo found that there was a “pervasive culture of corrupt practices, mismanagement and malfeasance that had been inculcated within Eskom promoted by executives and board members since 2014,” Daily Maverick’s Ray Mahlaka reported. Because of this, Zondo recommended that Koko, Molefe and Singh should be prosecuted by law enforcement agencies.
In his report, Zondo identified Koko specifically as having acted in the interests of the Guptas and their associates, rather than in the interests of Eskom.
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In October this year, Koko, his wife and two stepdaughters were among eight people arrested on corruption charges relating to a multimillion-rand irregular contract for building the Kusile power station. The charges stem from a 2015 contract awarded to Swiss conglomerate Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) to install control and instrumentation systems at the Kusile Power Station.
Koko was released on R300,000 bail and is expected to be back in court on 23 March 2023. DM
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