Johannesburg – Former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko has denied claims he had prior knowledge of the suspensions of four Eskom executives in 2015, including himself.
Koko was back in the hot seat at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Friday afternoon when he told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo he had been none the wiser on his suspension as well as those of Tshediso Matona, former finance director Tsholofelo Molefe and group capital executive Dan Marokane.
Koko's testimony centred around a meeting at Melrose Arch in which Koko is alleged to have called Suzanne Daniels, Eskom's head of legal and compliance, to a meeting where she met him and Gupta associate Salim Essa, where Koko said that four Eskom executives would be suspended.
Zondo said former Eskom executive Abram Masango had also testified he had received a call from Koko on the same day in which Koko called him to Melrose Arch, in which Koko told him that four executives would be suspended and that the two had acted independently of each other in making these claims.
However,Koko, denied this.
"Chairman, you're not correct in saying that Ms Daniels and Mr Masango acted independently. I called Ms (Nonkululeko) Dlamini (nee Veleti), it's a fact.
’’I told her I was at Melrose Arch, I actually thought she's at Megawatt Park and what she did not tell you, because we were very close; before I knew that she was at the college, I was harassing her to find out how it was going on at the corridors at Megawatt Park because that was the day I was supposed to be suspended," said Koko.
He also alleged he had been in the cross hairs of former Eskom board chairperson Zola Tsotsi, who he claims had wanted to get rid of him at all costs.
"The only reason that Mr Tsotsi, I think and that’s my thinking, between now and then did not mention other executives, it’s because he wanted to force my name at all costs, because he wanted to get rid of me because of how I responded to him," Koko said.
Political Bureau