Eskom says it can finally enforce order to recover millions paid to Brian Molefe in pension benefits

Eskom says it can finally enforce a court order to recover millions paid to former CEO Brian Molefe in pension benefits.

The power utility announced that the Pretoria high court dismissed Molefe’s application for leave to appeal the July court order to return pension payouts unlawfully paid to him.

“Subsequent to the order, Mr Molefe applied for leave to appeal — and this is news hot off the press: his application for leave to appeal has been dismissed, which means Eskom can now enforce the order,” said Eskom head of legal and compliance Mel Govender.

Govender made the announcement during Eskom’s appearance before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday.

The court ruled in July that Molefe pay the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) the difference between the pension benefits paid to him and the lump sum pension benefits payment he had transferred from the Transnet Retirement Fund to the EPPF.

Eskom announced last month that it had successfully recovered the R30m it unlawfully paid to the EPPF for Molefe's benefit, and the fund confirmed repaying the money but said it had been unable to get a portion (about R9.9m) that it had paid to Molefe.

This was because Molefe had applied for leave to appeal against the court judgment, which set out amounts he and the EPPF had to repay.

In January 2018, the high court declared the agreement concluded between Eskom and Molefe, placing him on early retirement, invalid.

It ordered Molefe to pay back all amounts paid to him in terms of the agreement.

When Molefe resigned as Eskom CEO in November 2016, he was employed on a fixed-term contract and therefore disqualified from participating in the Eskom pension fund.

Upon leaving Eskom, Molefe elected to receive one-third of his pension benefits as a lump sum. These benefits were created as a result of a payment of some R30.1m made by Eskom to the Eskom pension fund.

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