The Democratic Alliance (DA) laid criminal charges against Eskom’s chief executive Brian Molefe on Thursday in Cape Town.

The DA said that the charges are were laid against Molefe based on the prima facie evidence contained in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s State of Capture report.

“For too long people in positions of power have been given free rein to abuse public money with impunity,” the DA’s shadow minister of public enterprises, Natasha Mazzone said.

She added that it appeared as though Molefe “violated procurement procedures prescribed in key legislation regulating the conduct of executive members of state-owned institutions (SOE) as well as a failure to curb corruption in the use of public funds”.

The party revealed that the affidavit filed concerned “possible criminal and/or statutory offences committed in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Act 1 of 1999, the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PACCA), Act 12 of 2004 and the Powers Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, Act 4 of 2004.”

The affidavit also highlighted possible criminal offences in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. These included:

• Molefe’s relationship with Ajay Gupta and his family.
• Molefe’s relationship with with the directors of Gupta-owned Tegeta mining company.
• Molefe’s role in the awarding of contracts to Tegeta and other companies linked to the Gupta family.

“Furthermore it must be determined whether or not any offence has been committed in terms of section 50 of the PFMA, or in terms of any other relevant laws which pertain to the use of state procurement in order to benefit the ANC and associated individuals as illegal,” Mazzone said.

“The DA will not stand by while state machinery and money is used to benefit a small Zuma-aligned political click,” she added.

The DA explained that the charges were “a first important step in making sure that Brain Molefe is the first of many that will be held accountable for the blatant abuse of power for narrow financial gain”.

“Corruption steals opportunities, damages our economy, and hinders service delivery,” Mazzone said. “The DA will not rest until this matter is fully investigated and action is taken against all those found guilty.”

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