Brian Molefe loses bid to escape penalties for Eskom debacle

The High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday dismissed the appeal application brought by disgraced former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe‚ with costs.

Molefe had wanted the court to overturn a January ruling by the full bench of the court that ordered him to repay R11-million in pension payments‚ which had been unlawfully paid to him by the Eskom Pension Fund.

The court described the R30-million early-retirement deal entered into by Eskom and Molefe as a "deliberate scheme" concocted after he resigned from Eskom in 2016 as he was never entitled to the benefits after he had been in Eskom’s employ for only 18 months.

Molefe had also challenged a ruling that he had indeed resigned and his initial reinstatement was unlawful‚ as part of his appeal was to seek reinstatement to his old position at the power utility.

The Solidarity trade union said in a statement after Tuesday's hearing that Molefe was "unnecessarily abusing court processes to delay the repayment of the money illegally obtained by him".

Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said: “Mr Molefe should hang his head in shame and apologise to South Africa. He is doing the opposite by trying to defend an unlawful action."

“He deliberately made misrepresentations to enrich himself at the expense of Eskom and taxpayers. He took from everyone in South Africa. Taxpayers are fed up with tax plunderers‚ and unfortunately this definition fits Mr Molefe. Molefe already has a cost order against him. He should understand that he is no longer litigating with tax money and that Number One is gone. His legal costs will only increase."