Executive appointments were ‘lawful’ – Central Energy Fund

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) says an Auditor General report has cleared it of any wrongdoing in the appointment of its chief executive, chief operations officer and legal services executive.

This after media reports emerged last year that the board of the CEF allegedly appointed the three without due process and had lowered requirements for the jobs in order to do so.

In a statement, the State entity’s board said the AG’s report is confirmation that the three appointments were made within the law.

“The board… welcomes the Auditor General’s final management report relating to the appointment of its executives as being lawful. The report further confirms that all internal recruitment policies and processes were complied with in the appointment of the CEO, Dr Ishmael Poolo; Group Chief Operations Officer, Dr Tshepo Mokoka and Group Executive: Legal Affairs Brenda Moagi,” the statement read.

The board said it had also sought to conduct an independent investigation into the merits of the allegations and legal advice on a way forward after a report was drawn up.

“The final investigative report by MBADA Labour Relations firm tabled at the recent CEF board meeting confirmed that these allegations were baseless. Given that there were no merits to these allegations, the Board has decided not to institute any disciplinary action against the GCEO and his executives.

“As the CEF board, we feel vindicated by these findings which followed relentless engagements with the AG’s office, with regards to the inconclusive management report that was leaked to media,” the board said.

The energy company said its focus is fully on protecting energy supply for the country.

“The board reiterates its position that it will stop at nothing to deal with corruption, non-performance or malfeasance within the CEF Group, and we will not allow the conduct of disgruntled employees to de-focus us and management in fulfilling our mandate of guaranteeing the security of energy supply for South Africa,” the statement read. – SAnews