Three court battles still loom for Brian Molefe as one case is dropped

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gavel thumb100 Fin24 reports that former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe's lawyer says his client feels "vindicated" after Corruption Watch withdrew its civil case to have him declared a delinquent director. However, Molefe still faces three other legal challenges. 

These inlcude a high-profile criminal case that could put him behind bars for years if he is found guilty. CW withdrew its case against Molefe last Friday with little fanfare. However, Molefe is still facing three other legal matters. The first is a criminal case instituted against Molefe linked to alleged fraud and corruption at Transnet. Molefe, Eskom’s former finance chief Anoj Singh and seven other defendants have been charged with fraud, corruption, and money laundering for an advisory tender linked to Transnet's decision to buy 1,064 new locomotives to upgrade its ageing fleet. The case is set to resume in October. Molefe is also the subject of a separate civil damages claim by Transnet and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) linked to the transaction advisory tender. They have further alleged fraud, theft, and transgressions of public finance laws. The third legal matter is the long-running dispute over Molefe's pension payouts from Eskom, where he served as CEO for 20 months before resigning in November 2016. In early 2017, he was controversially reappointed as CEO by then Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown, a decision that was soon rescinded. In 2018, Molefe was ordered by the North Gauteng High Court to return "patently unlawful" pension fund payments in a case brought by trade union Solidarity and the DA. He has been fighting the ruling ever since. The 2018 ruling was confirmed by a second judgment in July 2022. Last year, Molefe was given leave to appeal the July 2022 judgment, which is only expected to be heard early next year.


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