Acting Eskom CEO to face investigation over tenders
The DA says it will request that public protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, launch an investigation into Eskom CEO Matshela Koko for reportedly awarding tenders worth R1 billion to Impulse International, a company of which his stepdaughter is a director.
The Sunday Times reported that 27-year old Koketso Choma, was handed contracts for her company worth R1 billion from the state energy firm.
The report stated that Choma was appointed as a director at Impulse International in April 2016, after which it received eight contracts from the division of Eskom which Koko headed up.
Impulse International – an engineering and project management company – has received R1.8 billion in contracts from Eskom, according to the report, with R1 billion coming after Choma was appointed as director at the company.
Eskom told Fin24 on Sunday that Koko was unaware that Choma worked for the engineering firm until recently.
“Koko became aware of his stepdaughter’s involvement in Impulse International, upon which Mr Koko requested his twenty-seven-year-old stepdaughter, Ms Choma, who is a qualified chartered accountant, to resign as a director and shareholder,” Eskom said in a statement.
“This was duly done by Ms Choma in September and October 2016. Thus no legal obligation for Mr Koko to declare his interest,” Eskom said.
DA shadow minister of public enterprises, Natasha Mazzone, said that Koko’s reported actions could show that he is compromised and unfit to be the head of Eskom. “By claiming that he was not aware that his daughter was involved with Impulse International, Koko inadvertently admits that he failed in his role as the chief accounting officer to conduct due diligence on the company profile of a potential Eskom service provider.
“This potentially means that Eskom violated State Procurement guidelines set out by Treasury to guide the acquisition of services by State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) under Koko’s stewardship,” Mazzone said.
Public enterprises minister Lynne Brown has given the Eskom board 90 days to investigate the matter.
The report stated that Koko was also named in the public protector’s state capture report for authorising a payment of R600 million to the Gupta-owned Tegeta.
Read: Stepdaughter of Eskom boss scores R1 billion in contracts – report
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