Eskom’s Pension Fund admits guilt in Molefe saga

30 November 2017

Yesterday during a hearing of Solidarity’s application against Brian Molefe, the Eskom Pension Fund (EPPF) admitted to a full bench of judges that it had simply rubberstamped Eskom’s pension grant of almost R30 million to Molefe.

The EPPF had to admit that the fund had accepted the grant unquestioningly without testing its conformity with the fund’s rules.

According to Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Deon Reyneke, Solidarity will give serious consideration to legal steps against the fund. “Our legal team has already been instructed to investigate the EPPF’s failure to fulfil its duties as well as to investigate its share in the Molefe matter with a view to taking legal action,” Reyneke said.

Meanwhile, the fund wants to take disciplinary action against Solidarity’s nominated trustee because he had allegedly disclosed documents clearly showing that the EPPF’s legal team had explicitly cautioned that the award to Molefe was improper.

“It is inconceivable that the EPPF would now allegedly want to accuse and impute a person who wanted to fulfil his fiduciary duty to protect the fund and the interests of the members belonging to it. His action in exposing the fund’s negligence in dealing with the matter, despite legal advice to the contrary, should be commended and is worthy of reward rather than the fund launching a witch-hunt against him,” Reyneke said.

Solidarity will also challenge these steps contemplated by the EPPF.

Issued by Francois Redelinghuys, Spokesperson, Solidarity, 30 November 2017