Former Eskom senior manager in fuel resourcing Dr Ayanda Nteta has told the State Capture Commission that executives and directors took an undue interest in certain contract negotiations, but she denied claims that former executive Matshela Koko pressured her to conclude a deal with Gupta-owned Tegeta.

Nteta worked in senior positions in fuel resourcing and primary energy at the state-owned entity (SOE) between 2012 and 2018 and was a key member of the team that negotiated the R3.7-billion deal for Tegeta’s Brakfontein colliery to supply the Majuba power station, which the North Gauteng High Court has ruled was unlawful.

Her former boss, Johann Bester, has testified that he believed Koko had pressured her to finalise the deal with Tegeta.

Emails show Tegeta tailored Eskom letter for Brakfontein coal deal

Nteta also played key roles in expanding the quantity of coal Eskom agreed to purchase from Tegeta’s Brakfontein colliery and in the R659-million advance payment the SOE paid Tegeta to effectively facilitate its purchase of Glencore’s Optimum Coal Mine. On Monday, she briefly described one of her meetings with Tony Gupta.

“Throughout my tenure at Eskom, I would be asked about specific transactions as to how far they are within negotiations, how far we are within concluding,” Nteta testified.

She described a climate of undue pressure from her immediate superiors, executives and the board regarding coal contracts. While negotiating the Brakfontein deal, she claimed, primary energy general manager Vusi Mboweni required weekly updates and former chairperson Zola Tsotsi called a meeting with her department regarding the engagement with the suppliers.

“In my opinion, I just felt that, one, at my level within the organisation I should not be asked those questions. There are people who are more senior to me who should be asked those questions. And, secondly, that in terms of my level I do the transactions, so I did not want to continue to have that kind of pressure.”

While she denied Koko pressured her regarding the Brakfontein deal, Nteta said Bester may have been feeling pressure to conclude the deal and exerted it on her.

Eskom and Tegeta had been in discussion about the coal deal from as far back as 2012, but Brakfontein did not have the required water licence, which Bester testified was a way to resist the deal, in which executives took a clear interest.

Nteta drafted an agreement with Tegeta in November 2014 and Brakfontein’s licence was approved the following month. The agreement was signed in March 2015.

Nteta resigned from Eskom in April 2018, primarily to pursue her PhD, but she said a contributing factor was that a new board had been appointed that continued to apply pressure regarding key contracts, dimming her initial optimism about the change in leadership.

“What I noted in terms of the new board that came in, there still seemed to be the same interests in terms of coal transactions,” she testified.

The then deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the appointment of a new Eskom board, led by Jabu Mabuza, in January 2018.

She couldn’t remember the exact date, but shortly after the agreement was signed, Nteta met Tony Gupta at the family’s Saxonwold home. She said Tegeta CEO Ravindra Nath wanted to meet regarding the deal and sent her an address.

“I put in the address and I arrived. The place that I arrived was at Saxonwold.”

She claimed she knew little about the Guptas at the time and only intended to meet Nath. She was met by Tony Gupta, who asked her about operational matters regarding the Brakfontein deal.

“He’d been wanting to get more details with regards to the operations for the agreement and to the best of my knowledge I tried to answer him, but, as I said, I think I may have irritated him because my understanding was I was meeting Mr Nath.”

“It wasn’t long and then I left without seeing Mr Nath,” she told the commission.

Nteta said she later realised she had misunderstood that Nath had scheduled the meeting with her and the Gupta brother but did not inform her. She said shareholders sometimes wanted to speak to Eskom employees about specific deals, in addition to information they received from their executives, and such meetings were held to ensure steady coal supply.

“It’s very strange,” said Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. “It’s just strange to me how it could be possible to have that misunderstanding.”

If Nath had meant for Nteta to meet Tony Gupta, why didn’t Gupta simply tell her when she asked where Nath was that she was mistaken and was there to meet him, Zondo asked.

Nteta will continue her testimony on Tuesday morning and will speak about another meeting with the Guptas and the prepayment to Tegeta ahead of its Optimum Coal acquisition.

She’ll be followed by former Eskom leaders who are heavily implicated in allegations of State Capture at Eskom. Koko is due to testify on Tuesday afternoon. Former CFO Anoj Singh is scheduled for Wednesday and former CEO Brian Molefe is due to be sworn in on Friday. DM