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Eskom acting CEO Calib Cassim to face tough questions over Fidelity contract

Acting CEO Calib Cassim will have to face some tough questions over his alleged involvement in a security contract with Fidelity.

According to reports, the contract with Fidelity was for three months and was created by former head of security, Karen Pillay. Pillay has since been suspended from Eskom. The security contract was signed by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and former COO Jan Oberholzer. Both parties allegedly accepted the deviation from their payment policy to allow for the contract to be implemented.

Pillay wrote a letter to Cassim when he was the Chief Financial Officer and requested that he allow for the deviation of Eskom’s payment policy, City Press reported. The deviation meant Eskom would be able to pay Fidelity more quickly than the usual 60-day payment period. Fidelity’s invoice amounted to more than R250 million. Normally contracts with Eskom valued at R100 million should be paid within 60 days, according to the state utility’s payment policy.

With regard to the Fidelity contract, Pillay asked that Eskom pay the company within a week or two. Cassim allegedly approved this request by Pillay but Oberholzer and De Rutyer also supported the deviation request. It also should be noted that this three-month contract with Fidelity was an emergency deal and therefore other security companies were not invited to submit bids for the lucrative deal. Moreover, De Ruyter allegedly supported this emergent request by Pillay.

The Eskom board therefore had no involvement in approving the contract and will now pose questions to Cassim over the issue. City Press has also stated that Pillay is being investigated by authorities over the contract. Cassim has only been acting CEO at the state utility for roughly 7 months, having been appointed in February 2023. He was previously Eskom’s chief financial officer. R16 billion from from Treasury in July.

As Eskom and its leadership face questions over the contracts it is awarding to businesses, government is still forking out billions to bail out the indebted state-owned entity. Last month it was reported that Treasury had paid R16 billion to Eskom, the first tranche of a debt relief package that will wipe off more than half its liabilities.

The Treasury offered a total of R254bn to the state-owned company in February so it could pay its debt to global financial institutions, which currently tops R423bn.

Source: www.iol.co.za

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Eskom acting CEO Calib Cassim to face tough questions over Fidelity contract

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