I was purged after Eskom board met Lynne Brown, Zola Tsotsi tells inquiry

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Eskom's former board chairman Zola Tsotsi on Wednesday told the state capture commission that his dramatic resignation in 2015 was premeditated by his colleagues acting in cahoots with then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown.

Tsotsi said the purge started when board colleagues started having WhatsApp conversations without him and organising meetings without informing him.

At some point, the rest of the Eskom board, with the exception of Tsotsi, flew to Cape Town to meet Brown. Upon their return, they formulated a charge sheet against Tsotsi and asked that he explain himself at a board meeting on March 19.Tsotsi said he asked for an extension to consult his legal representatives, which was granted and the meeting was pushed back to March 30.

At this meeting Tsotsi made representations to the board, insisting the charges against him were bogus. After his presentation, he was asked to step out for the board to deliberate on a verdict."At some point in the evening [they] sent a delegation to come and talk to me. It was Dr Ben Ngubane and Romeo Kumalo," said Tsotsi.

"They made a proposition that if I agree to resign, they would drop the charges against me because they did not want a prolonged and messy exchange between me and Eskom."But he went back inside to address the board, demanding that his resignation was subject to Eskom paying his legal fees, letting him keep a company phone at his cost and compensating him for three months of his remaining time with Eskom.

Tsotsi told the commission why he believed Brown was working with the Guptas. He related one occasion, not long after the board was appointed, when it had to formulate committees. Tsotsi said Brown's suggested committees were identical to those submitted to him by Gupta associate"I was very surprised, at that point in time it was very early in the new board’s term. I was very intrigued by the whole thing and could not quite put my finger on what was going on," said Tsotsi.

 

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