Former Eskom board member Viroshini Naidoo said on Tuesday she was "horrified" that the board was led into approving a R1.6bn guarantee to Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources on the understanding it was a prepayment for coal. The guarantee facilitated the purchase of Optimum Coal by Tegeta from Glencore. Naidoo, a board member from December 2014 to July 2016, said at the inquiry of Parliament’s public enterprises committee into state capture that she had only heard about the guarantee in media reports in 2017. Many disclosures about events at Eskom only came to light in the State of Capture report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela, she said. Although Naidoo said her husband knew the Guptas and their associate Salim Essa, she did not, and insisted that she had never been influenced by them in her decision making as an Eskom board member. Earlier, former board member Venete Klein said the Eskom board appointed suspended acting CEO Matshela Koko to the position despit...
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