CAPE TOWN - The public enterprises committee's inquiry into state capture at Eskom resumed on Tuesday.
The Gupta brothers allegedly told Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown not to suspend Eskom executive Matshela Koko.
Brown has been allegedly captured and reports to the Guptas. Acting Eskom chairperson Zethembe Khoza told this of Brown to Khulani Qoma, the Eskom board spokesperson.
Qoma also said that suspended CFO Anoj Singh and suspended acting CEO Matshela Koko were protected by the minister because they were also in the aligned to the Guptas.
Qoma said Khoza called one of the “G-brothers” and informed him that former Eskom chair Ben Ngubane was about to suspend Koko.
The Guptas apparently then telephoned Brown and ordered her to inform Ngubane that he could not suspended Koko.
Koko was then allowed to remain in his position.
Eskom board spokesperson Khulani Qoma testifies before parliament.
LAST WEEK
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Last week the suspended legal head at Eskom, Suzanne Daniels told members of the inquiry some shocking allegations.
Daniels informed members that Ajay Gupta and Gupta-associate Salim Essa had on a number of occasions tried to influence decisions related to executives at Eskom.
One of the meetings Daniels mentioned was at the Melrose Arch in Johannesburg on July 29, 2017.
Daniels said, “The purpose of the discussion was around the process of the [former Eskom CEO Brian] Molefe court proceedings. Mr Gupta wanted to know how far they were.”
Molefe's wanted to have the Labour Court disavow Eskom’s decision to terminate his reappointment. Daniels told Ajay Gupta the Deputy Judge President and Eskom would meet to discuss the matter.
Opposition parties at the time had also joined the suit.
"We went into one of those apartments. As we walked into the lounge area there were four people, of which I was introduced to Ajay Gupta, Duduzane Zuma, Deputy Minister [of Public enterprises] Ben Martins and a Chinese lady whose name I could not remember,” she said.
What was shocking was that Ajay Gupta said that he would speak to someone at the Deputy Judge President’s office so that the meeting could be moved, Daniels said.
Minister Martins then came before the commission and said he never met with Duduzane Zuma, Suzanne Daniels and Ajay Gupta at an apartment in Johannesburg in 2017.
“I am perplexed by Ms Suzanne Daniels’ testimony to the parliamentary inquiry into Eskom”.
“She falsely claimed that I had attended a tea party in Johannesburg with her, Mr Ajay Gupta, Mr Salim Essa and Mr Duduzane Zuma.
“As the head of Eskom’s legal department Ms Daniels should account to Parliament for what happened under her watch rather than seek to use the occasion to reinvent herself as clueless ignoramus.”