Eskom’s payout to the transnational consulting company McKinsey and Co and its BEE partner, Gupta-linked company Trillian Management Consulting (TMC), as well as the involvement of Eskom’s former group CEO, Matshela Koko, were at the centre of proceedings at the State Capture Commission on Tuesday.
Koko was making his sixth appearance before Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, this time to testify after former Trillian financial advisory CEO Mosilo Mothepu implicated him as the lead negotiator in the awarding of an Eskom contract to TMC and McKinsey. Koko denied all claims linking him to the settlement agreement signed apparently as compensation for the termination of their consulting contract.
Siyabonga Gama chalks up his astounding reinstatement a
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“Well, if McKinsey don’t play ball, we’ll replace them. I still want my five billion,” Trillian Capital Partners (TCP) majority shareholder Salim Essa reportedly told his Trillian Management Consulting (TMC) CEO, Bianca Goodson, in 2016.
Goodson left her job at Anglo American to officially start work as TMC CEO in January 2016 after she was recruited by Clive Angel from Integrated Capital Management (ICM). Angel reported to Gupta lieutenant Essa, who owned 60% of TCP, which included various subsidiaries such as TMC.
Before she started as TMC CEO, Angel set up a range of meetings for Goodson to learn about the company’s work and forwarded her documents. TMC planned to partner with McKinsey to perform services for Eskom and Angel sent Goodson revenue projections she said were compiled by McKinsey partner Vikas Sagar.
First published by Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper
In the social media era, the Zondo Commission of Inquiry repeatedly and regularly trends on Twitter, Google and Facebook. In 2020, even as Covid-19 forced its hearings into the virtual rather than in the real world, the commission commanded national attention from January all the way to December.
Judge Raymond Zondo, who chairs the commission and is the country’s Deputy Chief Justice, is now one of South Africa’s most recognisable members of the judiciary. “Zondo” has become a byword for klapping back and the livestreaming of its hearings has made it a kind of national telenovela of the kleptocracy South Africa has become.
The not-so-great escape
“Mr Zuma has left, I’ve been told.”
In those words, a visibly disturbed Justice Raymond Zondo informed the public that former President Jacob Zuma had simply upped and departed the State Capture Commission without permission on 19 November.
Jacob Zuma, former South African president, pauses as he arrives to testify in the state capture inquiry in Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday, July 15, 2019. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While Zuma’s tea-break dash interfered with South Africa’s quest for answers, his violation of a subpoena that compelled him to appear for five days last month caused the commission to immediately open a criminal case against him.
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