Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has been ordered to pay back pension benefits which he received when he left the embattled power utility. Molefe has been directed to pay back just under R10 million, plus interest to Eskom’s pension fund.
This week, the Pretoria High Court enforced a ruling made in January 2018 by the then North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, which has ordered Molefe to comply within 10 days.
In 2018, the court found that “any payment or sum of money” received by Molefe under “any purported pension agreement” between him and Eskom was unlawful and invalid. The court ordered that he pay back the money within 10 days and pay for the legal costs of his opponents.
The former Eskom boss did not pay back the money in the intervening four years, arguing that he did not know how much he was expected to pay back.
Moelefe was awarded a total pension package of R30 million, which he asked to be paid in cash with the remaining amount to be paid out monthly.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has now ruled that Molefe has to pay a total of R9 985 540 plus interest calculated from 31 October 2019 up to the date he pays. The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) is also allowed to set off a portion of this amount against the R4.2million that was transferred to the EPPF from Molefe’s Transnet pension fund during the period he joined Eskom.
The EPPF will also pay back the balance of the money it received from Eskom in respect of Molefe’s retirement, which amounts to R31.4 million.
