Staff Reporter.
The commission of inquiry into state capture will on Tuesday hear evidence related to Eskom from the power utility’s former head of legal and company secretary Suzanne Daniels.
Daniels previously told the Zondo commission that the questionable R1.68bn guarantee granted to Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources was a better deal for the power utility.
She said the alternative to the deal would have been a prepayment for coal to the same company for R1.68bn.
Daniels had supported the decision because it was a better option for Eskom to hold on to the cash at the time.
She said that former CEO Matshela Koko took a special in interest settling the R2 billion penalties that had been imposed on Optimum coal mine when it was owned by Glencore.
She said that Koko wanted to withdraw the claim and settle at R500 million after Tegeta took ownership of the mine.
Daniels is testifying remotely at the state capture commission.
She said that she was reluctant about the quick change in position because there was already a lot of attention on the issue.
But Koko wanted to abandon the litigation inexplicably.
“We had no just gone through a change of ownership and it seemed an abrupt turn around that we would now be willing to settle the matter at R500 million. My reasoning was that we should at least go through a legal process, it shouldn’t be Eskom withdrawing.”
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Video Courtesy of SABC.