Johannesburg – A former acting Eskom senior manager on Tuesday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that she kept details of her meetings with one of the controversial Gupta brothers to herself.
Dr Ayanda Nteta, who was the power utility’s acting senior fuel resources manager until April 2018, testified that she was uncomfortable in the meetings with Tony Gupta.
“One of the things I was uncomfortable with is, where did he learn about costs plus agreements and how much does he know,” she said.
According to Nteta, Gupta was interested in the medium-term coal supplier agreements under which the fugitive family’s company, Tegeta, fell under and was also curious about the costs plus coal supplier agreements.
“It made me uncomfortable, raised concerns to me,” she said.
Nteta explained that Gupta discussed coal sampling with her in both meetings.
She defended her decision not to tell anyone about the meetings with Gupta as she did not feel comfortable.
Nteta said even her seniors met suppliers outside Eskom but that this was not best practice.
“I did not share meetings with Tony Gupta with my immediate boss. In fact, I did not share it with anybody,” she explained.
Commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo asked Nteta whether her two meetings with Gupta were secret meetings within the context of the power utility.
Nteta responded: “I did not feel comfortable and I did not trust anyone.”
She said she resigned because there was disciplinary action against her to continue with her studies.
Nteta said she felt the incoming board and executives at the time would continue to exert undue interest in various transactions in the primary energy space and she did not want to continue to endure what was happening at Eskom.
The power utility had indicated to Nteta that there was a breakdown of trust based on the provision of temporary relief to Optimum Coal/Tegeta.
Political Bureau