Suzanne Daniels, Eskom's former head of compliance who blew the whistle on the Gupta family's alleged looting at the parastatal, will face disciplinary charges on Monday, Business Day reported. It is the latest in a series of moves by Eskom against Daniels, who says she is being victimised for revealing the R1.6-billion McKinsey and Trillian Capital Partners deal.
But Eskom reportedly says Daniels was complicit in the deal, which saw the Gupta-linked Trillian walk away with millions in an irregular contract, allegedly for doing nothing more than acting as gatekeepers.
Eskom reportedly alleges that Daniels failed to act against the deal, and that she deliberately hid Trillian's involvement in it.
"Your failure to ensure a complete submission was provided to the BTC [board tender committee] allowed a materially defective submissions to serve before the BTC, and as a result the BTC members did not have all the information relevant to the decision they had to make before them, and took a decision to make a substantial settlement payment which was neither legally justified nor in the best interests of Eskom," the parastatal reportedly alleges in an 11-page charge sheet.
But Daniels will reportedly argue that she was not responsible for any wrongdoing, and that she is being victimised for blowing the whistle on the deal.
Eskom suspended Daniels last year, after she submitted a report to the then-Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, detailing what she called "brazen theft". But the Commission of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration overturned her suspension in March.
Almost immediately, Eskom brought new charges against Daniels, Eyewitness News reported at the time.
An Eskom spokesperson said at the time, "Those are the new charges that we have been brought forward...The new board are looking at this with a fresh perspective, a fresh eye, and want to instil a certain level of governance it terms of how we deal with issues of misconduct across the board."
Daniels told Parliament last year how the Eskom board was "run" by the Gupta family and said she had met Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa, when she was asked to intervene at Eskom on the Gupta family's behalf, according to Fin24.