Colesberg - ANC NEC member Joel Netshitenzhe thought he was dreaming when he heard that Brian Molefe was returning to Eskom to be its CEO.
"I thought I was dreaming when they were saying on the radio a certain gentleman who had become honourable had gone back to his job," Netshitenzhe told delegates attending the ANC’s Northern Cape elective conference on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Eskom said Molefe would return as its chief executive. The board rescinded his application for early retirement, after Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown rejected the parastatal’s proposal that he get a R30m pension payout.
In February, he was sworn in as an ANC MP amid speculation that he would be appointed finance minister. President Jacob Zuma however appointed Malusi Gigaba after some of the ANC’s top six leaders and SACP leaders rejected Molefe.
Netshitenzhe, a policy expert in the ANC, said Molefe's situation proved the party was no longer the strategic centre of power. He quoted the ANC statement in which the party criticized Molefe's return to Eskom as reckless.
"We are angered by actions of our deployees, which demonstrate the vanguard has lost its DNA, its capacity to lead, let alone society, even to lead its own deployees," Netshitenzhe said to applause.
The "vanguard movement" was no longer leading the revolution, he said. With all the allegations of state capture, "we should be worried".
Molefe resigned from Eskom in November 2016, after he was mentioned in former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s “State of Capture” report as having had contact with the Gupta family.
Netshitenzhe said the party had to prioritise renewal and use its December elective conference to show society it had changed, or risk being punished in the 2019 elections.
