DEPUTY Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is a worried man.
He was shocked when the Zondo Commission heard that Eskom gave away R1,68 billion to Gupta company Tegeta, which Eskom had no connection with.
Testifying yesterday, former Eskom board member Pathmanathan Naidoo said Eskom paid the money to pre-purchase coal.
Naidoo said Eskom had an agreement with Glencore-owned Optimum Coal Mine (OCM) to sell Eskom coal at a cheaper price while selling higher grade coal internationally to make up the shortfall.
But Glencore invoked a hardship clause and demanded more money from Eskom.
Naidoo said while Eskom and Glencore were fighting, an email was sent instructing the company’s finance and investment committee to allow CEO Brian Molefe, generation manager Matshela Koko and chief financial officer Anoj Singh to negotiate with Glencore’s proposed new owners.
Naidoo said as far as he knew, the prepayment was given to OCM and not Tegeta.
“OCM required cash in advance to give them liquidity so they could get on with their business to deliver the coal to Hendrina Power Station and also sell the coal to the export market,” he said.
Zondo said he found it difficult to believe that 12 board members didn’t notice that the money was going to Tegeta.
A clearly troubled Zondo said Eskom was an important state-owned company and the board didn’t take the trouble to make sure the money went to the right company.
