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Ramaphosa confirms it was him who recommended Molefe as Eskom CEO

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President Cyril Ramaphosa says it was him who recommended to then-President Jacob Zuma that Brian Molefe replace Tshediso Matona as Eskom CEO in 2015.

Matona was suspended together with three other executives in March 2015.

Ramaphosa says that he believed that getting a strong CEO into the power utility would allow for a more effective turnaround strategy.

He says he was surprised when he heard allegations that Molefe had irregular dealings with the Gupta family.

“I had never really connected with Molefe in that way with the Gupta family. I had no inkling knowledge or even suspicion that there was that linkage. I noted that and of course in the fullness of time that became a concern that someone that one held in high regard was entangled with the family.”

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa says he had a number of options when he found out that state capture was taking place when he was Deputy President under Zuma.

He says resigning would have merely made news headlines and achieved little else. Ramaphosa says speaking out would have probably resulted in him being fired.

In the video below, Ramaphosa speaks of options as state capture was taking place:

He said that opting to remain silent or simply going along with the status quo was not an option as he did not want to betray the African National Congress (ANC) and its founding members.

“Fundamentally this approach enabled the far-reaching changes the country has gone through over the last three years including the disruption of state capture project and the rebuilding of damaged institutions it was also possible through this approach to resist some of the more gregarious and obvious abuses of power and maybe one will cite just a few for instance the replacement of Ntlantla Nene with Des van Rooyen provides a useful illustration of this.”

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