Outa bids farewell to Ngubane by handing him fraud charges

Former Eskom board chairman Ben Ngubane now faces charges of fraud and forgery.

Civil rights movement Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) laid the charges against Ngubane, who resigned from the Eskom board on Monday night.

The charges come on the back of the ANC’s call for Ngubane to be investigated for misconduct and corruption at Eskom.

The DA, which has led a spirited campaign to have the entire Eskom board removed, said Ngubane should still be held liable for the governance problems incurred by the power utility under his leadership, despite his resignation.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown announced Ngubane’s resignation shortly after the announcement of a full-scale parliamentary inquiry into financial mismanagement at Eskom.

As a result, both the DA and the ANC’s study group on public enterprises found the timing of Ngubane’s resignation “suspicious”.

“We view this resignation as an attempt to avoid being held accountable for his role in recent events at Eskom,” said the ANC’s Zukiswa Rantho.

DA shadow minister of public enterprises Natasha Mazzone said in statement that Ngubane would still have to be held liable for the rot at Eskom despite his resignation.

“Ngubane’s resignation will not exonerate him from liability for the breakdown of governance at the power utility and the DA will use the parliamentary inquiry, set to commence on June 21, to hold Ngubane to account,” she vowed.

Outa director Ted Blom said the organisation had conducted its own investigation into Ngubane during his time spent at both the SABC and Eskom.

“We have obtained evidence to substantiate our claims and are confident of the strength of our case against Ngubane,” he said in a statement.

“We trust that the police and the NPA will take up this matter with the urgency and sincerity it deserves.”