{"id":2369,"date":"2021-01-14T18:15:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T18:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/south-africa\/?p=2369"},"modified":"2021-01-14T17:21:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T17:21:39","slug":"zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears","title":{"rendered":"Zuma told top government official to put Eskom board meeting on hold, inquiry hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Johannesburg \u2013 A top government official on Thursday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that former president Jacob Zuma instructed her to put an Eskom board meeting on hold.<\/p>\n

Matsietsi Mokholo, who was acting public enterprises director-general at the time Zuma made the call in 2015, told the commission that when the ex-head of state called, he spoke to her in a mixture of IsiZulu and English.<\/p>\n

According to Mokholo, who was the Department of Public Enterprises\u2019 deputy director-general responsible for legal, governance and risk, after pleasantries were exchanged, Zuma told her he tried to get hold of then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown and Bulelani Magwanishe, her deputy at the time.<\/p>\n

She said Zuma told her there was a board meeting at Eskom the following day, which Mokholo was not aware of as departmental officials did not know when such meetings were held.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe president asked me to inform the Eskom chairperson (Zola Tsotsi) that he must postpone the meeting scheduled for the following day and await further instructions from the shareholder minister,\u201d said Mokholo, who is now the Presidency\u2019s deputy director-general responsible for corporate management.<\/p>\n

She recalled Zuma instructing her in IsiZulu: \u201cNgicela usihlalo ahlehlise umhlangano (Please inform the chairperson to postpone the meeting).\u201d<\/p>\n

Mokholo said Zuma did not inform her that he was going to call Tsotsi, but told her to just inform the chairperson to wait for further instructions from his shareholder minister (Brown).<\/p>\n

She told commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that Zuma was saying the meeting should not proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201dMy understanding was that it was an instruction,\u201d Mokholo said.<\/p>\n

She then informed Tsotsi about Zuma\u2019s instruction but suspected that the chairperson would want reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201dI did not call the chairperson immediately, I first tried to call the minister who was travelling abroad. She (Brown) did not pick up and did not respond to a text message,\u201d said Mokholo.<\/p>\n

She said Tsotsi demanded to know the reasons for the postponement, but told him that Brown would explain the move.<\/p>\n

Tsotsi was very persistent as the meeting was already scheduled, with some board members coming from outside Gauteng, Mokholo said.<\/p>\n

\u201dMy intent was not to mention that the president had made the request,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Tsotsi just said \u2019\u2019okay\u2019\u2019 and the conversation ended, according to Mokholo.<\/p>\n

\u201dI was sweating because it was the first time I had received a call from the president,\u201d she said of Zuma\u2019s phone call.<\/p>\n

Whistle-blowers Mosilo Mothepu and Bianca Goodson, formerly chief executive officers of Gupta-linked companies Trillian Financial Advisory and Trillian Management Consultants, will give evidence on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Political Bureau<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Johannesburg \u2013 A top government official on Thursday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that former president Jacob Zuma instructed her to put an Eskom board meeting on hold. Matsietsi Mokholo, who was acting public enterprises director-general at the time Zuma made the call in 2015, told the commission that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nZuma told top government official to put Eskom board meeting on hold, inquiry hears - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Johannesburg \u2013 A top government official on Thursday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that former presi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zuma told top government official to put Eskom board meeting on hold, inquiry hears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Johannesburg \u2013 A top government official on Thursday told the commission of inquiry into state capture that former presi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T18:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/01\/img-60007d8b06766.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zuma told top government official to put Eskom board meeting on hold, inquiry hears\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-14T18:15:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/01\/img-60007d8b06766.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/zuma-told-top-government-official-to-put-eskom-board-meeting-on-hold-inquiry-hears\",\"name\":\"Zuma told top government official to put Eskom board meeting on hold, inquiry hears - 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