#BrianMolefe in court bid to keep Eskom payout cash

Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe File picture: David Ritchie/ANA

Former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe File picture: David Ritchie/ANA

Published Apr 17, 2018

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Pretoria - Former Eskom boss Brian Molefe is set to fight the entire judgment of a full bench of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in which it was found that he had resigned from the power utility, and had to pay back R10.9million of a R30 million so-called golden handshake.

Molefe will today ask the court for leave to appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

Judges Elias Matojane, Hans Fabricius and Sheila Mphahlele in January also set aside then public enterprise minister Lynne Brown’s decision to reinstate Molefe. They also declared that any payment he received under any purported pension agreement was invalid.

These orders were made following applications against Molefe by the DA and the EFF.

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In his application for leave to appeal, Molefe said the three judges erred in finding he had resigned from Eskom, and that his departure was unrelated to the early retirement agreement with the utility.

Molefe said Eskom, as well as himself, specifically stated under oath that his departure at the end of December 2016 was linked to the early retirement agreement it had concluded with him. He said the court should have accepted that the February 9, 2016, resolution afforded him the option to take early retirement, which he believed he was entitled to.

He is also aggrieved by the court’s order that he had to repay all the money he had received under the Pension Fund agreement. The court ordered that he pay back R10.9m within 10 days of its order in January this year.

He said this order should not have been made, as it was based on an inaccurate calculation.

He explained that when he joined the pension fund an amount of more than R4m, belonging to him, was transferred from the Transnet pension fund into Eskom’s pension fund. Molefe said in addition he was required to make contributions to the Eskom pension fund while he worked there. These amounts thus belonged to him and should have been deducted from any amount the court decided he had to repay.

His application will be opposed by the DA, EFF and labour union Solidarity.

Pretoria News

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