A p r i l 1 8 2 0 1 5 S AT U R D AY S TA RNEWS2

THABISO THAKALI

PUBLIC Enterprises Min-ister Lynne Brown be-lieves she has got a “Mr

Fix-It” in Brian Molefe at thehelm of the ailing power utilityEskom.

So confident was Brown yes-terday that Molefe – the currentchief executive of Transnet –was “the right man for the job”that she’s looking beyond hisacting role at Eskom.

“Mr Molefe will be actingchief executive for the nextthree months (while Eskomcurrent chief executive TsedisoMatona remains suspendedduring an inquiry),” she said.“I’d like to see him workinghere for the next year, turningEskom around.

“If Mr Matona returns, I’dlike them to work together. IfMolefe can’t be chief executive,we’ll find another title for him.

“What I need is a chief exec-utive who can do the job… whocan get the job done from theget-go.”

Matona was suspended fol-lowing an Eskom board deci-sion to institute an inquiry intopoor performance of Eskom’sgeneration plants, delays inbringing the new plant on-stream, high costs of primaryenergy and cash-flow problems.

Yesterday Brown said thedecision to institute an inquiryhas created uncertainty aboutEskom’s ability to ensure secu-rity of supply, and the success-ful delivery of its build pro-gramme.

She said the terms of refer-ence of the inquiry that will beled by Dentons (a global lawfirm) had been concluded.

Brown said Molefe’s ap-pointment, though in an actingcapacity, was meant to stabilise

the executive leadership of theembattled state-owned entity.

“I don’t want to deal withleadership (problems).

“If an executive or a boardmember has to go, they mustgo,” she said.

“His experience in havingturned around the Public In-vestment Corporation and pro-viding stability at Transnet is aclear indication that Mr Molefeis no stranger in leading com-plex institutions.

“I am confident that we willbe able to draw on his experi-ence and understanding of thefinancial markets.”

Brown said Eskom was astrategic asset and one of themajor utilities on the conti-nent, therefore it was criticalthat it operate optimally, andcontribute to economic growthin the country.

She appealed to Eskom exec-utives and employees to wel-come Molefe and provide himwith all the necessary supportthat he would require.

Molefe’s replacement atTransnet, Brown said, wouldbe announced on Monday afterthe Transnet board had consid-ered three potential successors.

Molefe has been involvedwith entities such as Telkom,the Airports Company of SA,the National EmpowermentFund and the Export CreditInsurance Corporation.

Yesterday Molefe said hisimmediate priority would be todeal with load shedding and tominimise its impact on thecountry.

He said his medium-to-long-term plans would be to explorealternative energy sources,deal with the existing problemsof power generation and re-duce Eskom’s current relianceupon coal.

THABISO THAKALI

ESKOM’S interim chairmanBen Ngubane says he “neverwanted the job” of leading thecountry’s embattled power util-ity. “I never wanted this job,” hesaid.

“When (Zola) Tsotsi re-signed at midnight during aboard meeting, everybody inthe room turned around andsaid ‘you must take his posi-tion’.” But he said, now thathe’s at the helm, he’ll do whathe has to do.

“People go out and speak totheir favourite journalists andthey write their stories the waythey like it. Why should it affectme?” he shrugged. “I didn’t ap-point myself to this job. In factI never wanted this job at all.”

Ngubane, a former SABCchairman who resigned dis-gracefully after infightingamong board members at thebroadcaster, said what manypeople do not know is that he“turned around the SABC”.

Opposition parties criti-cised Ngubane’s appointmentlast month, given his role atSABC after Eskom’s then-chairman Tsotsi resigned.

“My role at the SABC was to

turn the broadcaster around.“We found it with a debt of

R1.64 billion and in two-and-a-half years we paid back thatdebt. So we turned it around,”he said. “If some board mem-bers felt they didn’t want me,that’s unfortunate, but we didwhat we needed to do.”

Ngubane said some SABCboard members had clashedwith him because they didn’twant the former head of news,Phil Molefe.

He said Molefe was “theonly guy” who came up with aplan to implement austeritymeasures in the newsroom,cutting its expenditure fromR900m to R600m. “But becausepeople didn’t want the guy forpersonal reasons, it was madeout to be a big story,” he said.

Ngubane said he was awarethat Eskom was also a highlycontested entity, with leader-ship squabbles contributing toits instability.

He said there was a generalmisunderstanding of howstate-owned entities worked.Ngubane said he was not partof the operational manage-ment of Eskom, and wouldtherefore fulfil his role with theboard.

CRAIG DODDS

POLICE are battling to makean impact in the fight againstNyaope – the homegrown drugcocktail ravaging townshipyouth – because 99 percent ofcases are thrown out of courtand there is no scientific defini-tion of the drug yet.

Deputy national commis-sioner for policing, Lieutenant-General Khehla Sithole saidyesterday police were beingfrustrated by the number ofcases that never made it ontothe court roll because prosecut-ing authorities considered thequantities involved too small.

“You will arrest these kids,the case goes nowhere. Theymake lines buying that thing,

and they don’t even fear to do it500m from the police station,”Sithole told MPs on Parlia-ment’s police oversight com-mittee.

“You take him from the line,you arrest him, and they de-cline the case. This kid comesback to the line and buys andeven smokes (right there).”

He said the latest datashowed between 98 and 99 per-cent of all cases against “theNyaope kids” were not placedon the roll.

He was responding to con-cerns raised by MPs over thelack of a target in the SAPS an-nual performance plan – whichpolice officials presented inParliament this week – for therecovery of Nyaope.

ANC MP Angie Molebatsicomplained the drug was “tear-ing our communities apart”,yet not mentioned in the plan.

Sithole said the SAPS hadidentified 24 hotspots in thecountry as part of a pro-gramme targeting Nyaope.

But national commissionerRiah Phiyega said the courtswere lagging behind crimetrends in viewing quantities astoo small for prosecution.

Street robberies were in-creasing as youths stole smallvaluables to sell for money tobuy the drug.

“Our courts remain behindbecause they’re looking at sizefrom a wrong dimension whilethere’s major erosion in soci-ety,” Phiyega said.

Sithole said dealers deliber-ately kept the “packets” smallso they couldn’t be prosecuted.

MPs were alarmed to hearthere was as yet no scientificdefinition of the drug, makingit harder for police to crackdown on the base chemicals in-stead of pursuing users.

“We know the dominatingchemical is heroin but forensicservices is assisting us,” Sit-hole said. The mixture differedfrom one region to another.

The key to “killing thedrug” would be tackling thetrafficking of heroin, he said.

He added Phiyega wouldspeak to prosecuting authori-ties about both the frustrationand the difficulties police expe-rienced.

MARVIN ADAMSAND BEENA AHMAD

INMATES at JohannesburgCorrectional Centre (‘SunCity’) Medium B went on ahunger strike on Wednesday,demanding head of the prison,Samuel Mahlanga, resign.

Prisoners claim that he isabusing his power by unfairlyrevoking their privileges andthat their conditions of con-finement are a danger to theirhealth. The strike came to anend late Thursday afternoonwhen some of the prisonerswere transferred out of theprison to other facilities.

According to a prisonkitchen source, a majority ofthe 3,500 meals prepared for theinmates returned untouched tothe kitchen on Wednesday.

Four prisoners told the WitsJustice Project (WJP) they pre-sented a petition with theirgrievances to the managementof the prison the week beforethe hunger strike.

The prisoners’ main griev-

ances relate to dangerous con-ditions at Sun City. For exam-ple, they cite the lack of health-care professionals in the unitwhere inmates with infectiousdiseases are housed.

“Inmates are being cared forby fellow inmates becausethere are no nurses,” said‘Thabong’, an assumed nameto protect his identity.

Thabong also said that sani-tation has been ignored byprison officials, no cleaningsupplies are being provided,and that inmates are falling illdue to unhygienic conditions.

Other basic needs have notbeen met. Thabong said he wastransferred from MangaungCorrectional Centre in Decem-ber, but has still not yet been is-sued a uniform, bedding orsheets. He said that he sleepson a mat in a cell with 60 otherinmates. Others in his sectionalso lack uniforms and bed-ding. Inmates claim that sinceMr. Mahlanga took over ashead of prison, many of theirprivileges have been termi-

nated without reason. For ex-ample, family visits have beenlimited to only 10 minutes, andthe tuck-shop has been shutdown. Furthermore, they claimtheir families are not allowedto bring clothing for the in-mates even though the prison

has failed to provide uniforms. One Sun City staff member,

who spoke off the record toWJP, confirmed that family vis-its had been limited to 10 min-utes. However, the prison clerkin charge of booking familyvisits denied this was the case.

Thabong also said that alleducational and sports activi-ties had been terminated. Hewas enrolled to study at theUniversity of South Africa, butsince his transfer to Sun Cityhe said he has not been allowedto continue the program.

DCS Deputy Commissionerof Communications ManelisiWolela confirmed that ahunger strike took place.

“We can confirm that 36 of-fenders from single cells of theC unit at Medium B, had com-plaints and threatened to em-bark on a hunger strike.

Issues that they complainedabout related to the tuck shopparticularly the regulation ofthe purchase amount that eachoffender qualifies for in termsof the security classification.

The Head of CorrectionalCentre addressed them and theoperations have returned tonormality since yesterday.”

■ Adams and Ahmad are

journalists with the Wits Justice

Project (WJP).

THE WAY IT IS: Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi,explains his decision to close the school. PICTURE: PABALLO THEKISO

LOCKED OUT: Tempers flare outside the gate of the Roodepoort Primary School where a dispute between the EducationDepartment and members of the local community prevents many children from attending class. PICTURE: CHRIS COLLINGRIDGE

Molefe namedas Eskom’snew Mr Fix-ItWill current Transnet boss be the gooddoctor to cure power utility’s ailments?

I never wanted this job atall, says Eskom’s Ngubane

Drug cocktail ‘too small’ for courts

Prison hunger strike over uniforms, bedding, family visits

School ‘had to be closed because of disruptions’

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NEW BROOM: Brian Molefe is the ‘right man’ to head upEskom, according to Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown.

LEAD SA has called on the publicto come together in solidarityagainst xenophobia during asilent vigil in Joburg planned for Tuesday.

The silentvigil is inresponse to a spate ofxenophobic attacks in severalparts of South Africa that haveleft thousands of peopledisplaced, and several dead.

“We call on everyone to standup with us against xenophobiaand preserve our humanity.

“The Lead SA Silent Vigil willbe an opportunity for peacefulself-examination and reflectionon the tragic events of the last

couple of weeks. We want thosebeing targeted to know that theyare not alone, that we are allhuman and we will not condonethese violent attacks.”

Lead SA hasbeen inundatedwith the goodwillof people who

want to stand up and storiescontinue to pour in under the#NoToXenophobia hashtag ofpeople actively assisting thosewho have been affected.

“We are humbled by themany voices that have risenagainst xenophobia and thecountless instances of activismduring this dark time.”

See Page 4

Call for ‘silent vigil’ in thebattle against xenophobia

SAMEER NAIK ANDANTHONY SETTIPANI

GAUTENG’S Education MECPanyaza Lesufi said yesterdayhe was forced to close Roode-poort Primary School indefi-nitely because of continuousdisruption of schooling in thearea.

Yesterday, a group of par-ents and community membersforcefully seized control of theschool building, locking thedoors and expelling all officialschool personnel.

The school, which is locatedin Davidsonville in the WestRand, was shut down after par-ents and the provincial depart-ment could not agree on thefuture of its principal.

The department is currentlyapplying for a court interdictfrom the South Gauteng HighCourt, which would preventcommunity members from con-tinuing acts of violent disrup-tion.

For the time being, parentsare being asked to seek place-ment of their children atnearby schools.

Parents have made allega-tions of fraudulent appoint-ment of teachers and misman-agement of funds.

The MEC investigated sev-eral matters related to the ap-pointment of three SA Democ-ratic Teachers’ Union teachers,with the community sayingdue process was not followed.The principal and chairperson

of the school governing bodywere also accused of malad-ministration.

There had been disruptionsat the school since February,when parents accused the prin-cipal and her deputies ofracism and corruption. Afteran investigation, all three werecleared of any wrongdoing bythe MEC earlier this week.

Lesufi said yesterday he wasforced to take a “difficult andpainful” decision to close theschool. “I don’t normally sur-render to anarchy, I don’t nor-mally surrender to lawlessness,and I don’t surrender to thosethat are hell-bent on disruptingeducation. I have taken the de-cision to close the school purelybecause I was influenced by the

safety of our young ones andour teachers.”

He said he had “bent overbackwards” for the communityin trying to resolve the issuesthat the school faced.

”I abided by their request toappoint an independent foren-sic company to determinewhether the principal anddeputy principal were ap-pointed correctly. I obliged andappointed a legal firm to inves-tigate the appointment, inwhich they found that theywere appointed correctly.’

“I’ve done everything hu-manly possible to ensure thatthere is sanity and that theproblems of that school are re-solved using dignified mecha-nisms,” Lesufi said.

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UNHAPPY WITH CONDITIONS: Inmates at ‘Sun City’ prisonwant the governor to resign. PICTURE: ITUMELENG ENGLISH