Eskom’s public relations not switched on
The trouble is that whatever the merits of Brian Molefe’s defence, he is now something of a laughing stock, writes Hilary Joffe
Was it Brian Molefe’s Trump moment? When Eskom chairman Ben Ngubane opened the media briefing on the utility’s interim results on Thursday, he indicated that Eskom would not be talking about the public protector’s State of Capture report, which had been released just hours earlier. Instead, the board would respond to the report at a separate briefing on Friday. Not that Ngubane could resist a few barbed comments about the report and the way in which "speculative" stuff was destroying SA, but when he handed over to his CE, Molefe focused firmly on the financials, working skilfully through the results presentation. Then he finished. He paused. And he appeared to do what The Donald’s campaign staff have tried, and spectacularly failed, to prevent the US candidate from doing: he went off script. What followed was a 45-minute diatribe from Molefe, who went through every detail of his version of the story about the coal contracts, the Guptas and his visits to Saxonwold — complete with the...
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