EVIDENCE before the Zondo Commission paints a picture that crucial decisions at Eskom were taken by people outside of the company.
Commission chairman, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, said he hoped the picture would become clear when he hears more evidence.
“I’ll see when all the evidence is in, but there’s a possibility that there was someone or there were people outside of Eskom who were making certain decisions or influencing certain decisions that were taken, including the decision to suspend these executives. We’ll see when all the evidence is in,” Zondo commented yesterday.
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He said two or more witnesses made these allegations before him about external interference at the power utility.
Zondo made these comments after he heard evidence by Nicholas Linnell, an independent consultant for Eskom, who drafted resolutions to suspend three Eskom executives on 11 March 2015.
Linnell told the commission the suspensions of CEO Tshediso Matona, finance director Tsholofelo Molefe, and commercial executive Matshela Koko were necessary as they could intimidate employees.
“My strong belief is that there was a strong human risk. People underneath might be intimidated by my mere presence and be scared to come up with information. There was high risk of people being intimidated.The fact that they’re suspended doesn’t preclude them from providing information,” he said.
Evidence leader, Advocate Pule Seleka, said there was no factual basis for coming to a conclusion that the executives would interfere with the investigation.
Linnell said: “There was one incident in respect of each of the three people which indicated there might be a propensity to interfere with the investigation.”
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Former Eskom group capital executive Dan Marokane testified that his suspension dented his image.
He was suspended a day after Matona, Molefe and Koko.
“On a professional level, to be sitting at home with a cloud of poor performance is very painful. On a personal level, my name is being dragged in all these insinuations that are going on. It is my family name that is being dragged in all of this,” said Marokane.
