A barely audible recording played before the state capture commission has reminded former board chair Zola Tsotsi that one of the board members said: ‘We must protect our leaders’.
A screengrab shows former Eskom chair Zola Tsotsi at the state capture inquiry on 9 September 2020. Picture: SABC Digital/YouTube
JOHANNESBURG – The state capture commission has heard recordings of Eskom board members saying that even though then-President Jacob Zuma and then-Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown instructed the board to suspend executives, they should not be mentioned in any media statements when the suspensions were announced.
A barely audible recording played before the state capture commission has reminded former board chair Zola Tsotsi that one of the board members said: “We must protect our leaders”.
Tsotsi said that he had brought up the fact that he was called to Zuma’s residence by Dudu Myeni, where the whole plan was set in motion.
Zola Tsotsi has recalled how he took the fall for the appointment of Nicholas Linell as a consultant, a decision that was made at Zuma’s residence in KwaZulu-Natal in a meeting called and led by Myeni.
He said that the board that he led adopted the resolution drafted by Linell to set up an inquiry and suspend four executives with the approval of Brown.
But the same board was adamant that Zuma and Brown must not be mentioned in statements announcing the decision and the decision should be attributed to the board.
Recordings of board deliberations were played by the commission.
But Tsotsi said that the board turned around and charged him with appointing Linell after Romeo Khumalo brought something to a special board meeting, details of which he did not have.
