SIU welcomes dismissal of freezing order appeal

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the dismissal of a Special Tribunal appeal by former Eskom contracts manager Dudu Moyo to have a freeze order on her pension benefits reconsidered.

According to SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, Moyo’s benefits were frozen last year following an investigation by the SIU into contracts she was managing at two of the power utility’s power stations.

She resigned during the corruption busting unit’s investigations.

“The SIU investigation revealed that Moyo unlawfully benefitted R24 584 000 from a multimillion-rand contract to transport water from Kendal Power Station to Kusile Power Station. The contract was signed with a company called Tamukelo. Moyo signed 23 payment certificates for Tamukelo between December 2011 and July 2014, at a cost of approximately R138-million.

“Furthermore, the SIU probe revealed that Tamukelo and its representatives paid entities linked or associated with Moyo, whilst she negotiated and managed Eskom’s contract with Tamukelo. The modus operandi employed by Moyo was to create structures of entities owned by members of her family and friends to receive these funds.

The SIU said there was a clear conflict of interest in that she received the funds while she formed part of middle management.

“Moyo was also part of a team that presented the negotiation strategy of the Tamukelo tender worth R300 million to the tender and procurement committee,” Kganyago said.

He added that Moyo continued to mislead Eskom by “declaring that there was no conflict of interest when dealing with Tamukelo and other role players for five years when signing Eskom’s annual declaration of Conflict Interest Policy”.

Moyo’s legal woes also extend to the High Court in Pretoria where the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), together with the SIU, were granted an order to freeze assets, including a luxury home and two vehicles belonging to her and her husband.

This was granted in relation to another matter Moyo is involved in.

“The civil litigation steps that the SIU has taken against Moyo is part of the SIU’s implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover assets and financial losses suffered by State institutions and/or to prevent further losses,” Kganyago concluded.