EFF leader Julius Malema has called for Brian Molefe and Matshela Koko to be brought back to the fold to fix the crisis at Eskom.
According to Malema, Molefe and Koko, the former chief executives at state-owned entities Transnet and Eskom, respectively, will be able to save the country from the unfolding energy crisis.
“Within the next two weeks, there will be darkness. South Africa is close to grid collapse, we should humble ourselves and bring back Molefe and Koko,” Malema said on Monday at the party’s headquarters in Gandhi Square in Johannesburg.
Malema also called for the removal of recently appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa, saying he is corrupt and will not improve the performance of Eskom.
“We don’t want a minister of electricity. We are fine. Take that electricity from the Department of Public Enterprises and put it into the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy,” he said.
Malema was addressing the media about the party’s 10th anniversary gala dinner, revealing that his table at the gala dinner was sold for R1.2-million to five people.
He said the EFF is now auctioning that table to business people who should bid for it between themselves, noting that those business people are not scared of the establishment.
In March, Koko’s restrictive bail conditions were relaxed. “I no longer have to report to the police station weekly or at all, and my travelling restrictions have been lifted,” he wrote on social media at the time.
Koko is facing charges of fraud, money-laundering and corruption related to a 2015 multi-billion rand Eskom contract with Swiss engineering company Asea Brown Boveri.
Charged with Koko are former SA Local Government Association boss Thabo Mokwena, Koko’s wife Mosima Koko and his two step-daughters Koketso Aren and Thato Chom, Eskom project director at Kusile power station Hlupheka Sithole, legal eagle Johannes Coetzee, and Watson Seswai.
The accused were nabbed in a joint simultaneous dramatic raid in Gauteng and Mpumalanga in October 2022. The former Eskom CEO is out on R300 000 bail.
Molefe also faces fraud and corruption charges related to Transnet’s controversial procurement of 1 064 locomotives.
His co-accused in the case are former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama, former chief financial officer Anoj Singh, and former group treasurer Phetolo Ramosebudi.
Meanwhile, Eskom announced on Monday afternoon that it will ramp up loadshedding to stage six from 3pm until 5am on Tuesday.
Thereafter, the countrywide rolling power cuts will be implemented between stages four and six for the rest of the week.
The power utility attributed the change to the failure of two generating units and the persisting cold weather that has gripped many parts of the country.
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