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- Energy minister shields ‘key Zuma nuclear ally’<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Nuke plan: 50 shades of arms deal<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Most Necsa board members are in open conflict with Tshelane and have written to Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, expressing implacable opposition to his reappointment and questioning his fitness for office.<\/p>\n
Tshelane, however, has the solid support of Necsa\u2019s influential chairperson, Mochubela Seekoe.<\/p>\n
With time running out either to renew Tshelane\u2019s contract or identify and groom his successor, Necsa faces a leadership crisis at the precise moment the government is on the cusp of issuing the main tender for the nuclear build project.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nSecurity clearance<\/strong><\/p>\n
Necsa is expected to drive the nuclear programme\u2019s local skills development and industrialisation plans. As Eskom\u2019s fortunes have waned, Necsa\u2019s status as the country\u2019s other repository of nuclear skills has turned it into the energy department\u2019s key asset.<\/p>\n
One of the board\u2019s biggest concerns about Tshelane is that he has \u201cto date failed to successfully obtain the necessary [top-secret] security clearance from the national security agencies, as he was obliged to do under his employment contract\u201d.<\/p>\n
Necsa operates the bulk of South Africa\u2019s civil nuclear capability, much of it commercially sensitive, but, significantly, it also houses the remains of the country\u2019s top-secret weapons-grade nuclear material from the apartheid era.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Necsa did not explicitly deny that Tshelane has not been given top-secret clearance, but laid the blame at the door of the State Security Agency (SSA).<\/p>\n
It said: \u201cThe [chief executive] went through a vetting process, as required by his employment contract, and it is well known that the finalisation of any vetting process depends on the SSA. On the contrary, it is members of the board behind these allegations who blatantly refused to undergo the vetting process while dealing with top-secret information of Necsa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Company resources<\/strong><\/p>\n
Most board members have been on a collision course with Tshelane ever since they attempted to discipline him earlier this year on multiple allegations of abusing his office. These included channelling Necsa money towards ANC fund\u00adraising events and diverting company resources for his personal benefit.<\/p>\n
Although Joemat-Pettersson ordered the board to conduct a disciplinary inquiry into Tshelane\u2019s conduct late last year, she later recanted. The board refused to back down, however, and conflict has smouldered between them and Tshelane for most of this year.<\/p>\n
The latest upsurge pits the majority of the board against Seekoe, whom they accuse of writing to Joemat-Pettersson without their knowledge in January to recommend a new contract for Tshelane.<\/p>\n
They also accuse Seekoe of frustrating their subsequent attempts over several months to meet the minister to discuss Tshelane\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
Significantly, the board initially asked Seekoe to set up a meeting with the minister on April 1 \u2013 exactly three months before Tshelane\u2019s\u00a0contract was due to end on July 31. The Nuclear Energy Act states\u00a0that the minister must consult the Necsa board before appointing the chief executive.<\/p>\n
Twenty allegations<\/strong><\/p>\n
Last week, finally, the majority of board members wrote to the minister to state their opposition to a new contract for Tshelane, restate their case against him and complain about Seekoe\u2019s attempts to retain him. They appear to have only last month discovered the existence of Seekoe\u2019s January letter.<\/p>\n
AmaBhungane has seen both Seekoe\u2019s letter to the minister, dated January 24, and the board\u2019s letter of protest, dated July 14.<\/p>\n
The letters are a study in contrast. Whereas Seekoe praises Tshelane\u2019s \u201cstrong, goal-oriented and strategic leadership\u201d, his board colleagues believe that, \u201cif [Tshelane] remains [chief executive] of Necsa, the organisation will further deteriorate in all aspects and become a large burden to the state\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its letter, the board levels nearly 20 allegations against Tshelane, including:<\/p>\n
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- Using Necsa money \u201cfor his own personal benefit\u201d and \u201cignoring\u201d the board\u2019s instruction to refund it;<\/li>\n
- Failing to obtain top-secret security clearance, even though his contract makes this mandatory; and<\/li>\n
- Causing \u201cserious financial distress and general employee unhappiness in the organisation\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It concludes that retaining Tshelane will \u201ctarnish South Africa\u2019s reputation as a leader in nuclear technology and be compromising to our security\u201d.<\/p>\n
‘Personal agenda’<\/strong><\/p>\n
Necsa says the letter sent to Joemat-Pettersson by Seekoe \u201cclearly stipulated his personal opinion and did not assume to represent the board of Necsa\u201d.<\/p>\n
Necsa also denies that Seekoe blocked the board\u2019s attempts to meet the minister and makes a series of counter-allegations against\u00a0the three board members who\u00a0wrote to Joemat-Pettersson: attorney Medi Mokuena, advocate Nazreen Shaik-Peremanov and Jeetesh Keshaw, who is seconded from the energy department.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe letter you mentioned that\u00a0recommended Mr Tshelane\u2019s contract not be renewed was neither seen nor acceded [to] by all the members of the board, including the chairperson and the [chief executive] \u2026 It was only a few board members who in their own accord [sic] drafted the letter to the minister; their view is not supported by any resolution of the board. This indicates a desperate attempt by some members of the board to frustrate the renewal of the [chief executive\u2019s] contract for their personal agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unbeknown to the board, Seekoe sent his letter to Joemat-Pettersson only a month after she had instructed the board to launch a disciplinary inquiry into Tshelane\u2019s conduct,\u00a0and just days before they acted against him.<\/p>\n
AmaBhungane has previously reported how Joemat-Pettersson subsequently performed a spectacular about-turn, calling off the inquiry one day after the board formally notified Tshelane of his suspension.<\/p>\n
Her change of heart is said to have been a result of political pressure to protect Tshelane because of his\u00a0key role in driving the nuclear new build programme.<\/p>\n
‘Strategic direction’<\/strong><\/p>\n
Joemat-Pettersson instead urged the board to focus on the entity\u2019s \u201cstrategic direction\u201d, which includes playing \u201ca significant role\u201d in the new nuclear build programme, and launched a separate inquiry into \u201cthe affairs of the board\u201d more generally.<\/p>\n
But the minister\u2019s intervention has not halted the all-out war between Tshelane and Seekoe on the one hand and the rest of the board on the other.<\/p>\n
In April, four board members filed an alternative dispute resolution with the Companies Tribunal, asking it to mediate between them and Seekoe. The tribunal provides an alternative for company directors to settle disputes among themselves instead of going to court.<\/p>\n
The four are deputy chair Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, as well as Keshaw, Mokuena and Shaik-Peremanov.<\/p>\n
The board members have complained to the tribunal about the \u201cinconsistent, arbitrary, unilateral manner in which [Seekoe] runs board activities\u201d.<\/p>\n
They accuse Seekoe of trying\u00a0to prevent the board from meeting to discuss Necsa matters and of\u00a0failing to implement board resolutions \u2013 such as requesting a meeting with the minister to discuss Tshelane\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with deep concern that the board has to remind you that you are not the chairperson of your own self but of the board. Unless delegated by the board \u2026 you may not act as if you are the board,\u201d reads a letter annexed to the board members\u2019 affidavit to the tribunal.<\/p>\n
Outvoted<\/strong><\/p>\n
In matters concerning Tshelane, the tribunal papers show Seekoe being consistently outvoted by\u00a0the four board members. Although Tshelane also sits on the board,\u00a0he cannot vote on matters concerning himself.<\/p>\n
The papers also reveal how the conflict has claimed the career of Necsa\u2019s group executive of nuclear compliance services, Joseph Shayi, allegedly at Tshelane\u2019s instigation.<\/p>\n
Shayi is in charge of nuclear safety and security at Necsa and has served the organisation for nearly\u00a0two decades.<\/p>\n
The board nominated Shayi to act as chief executive in February when it suspended Tshelane pending his disciplinary inquiry. It later discovered that Tshelane had terminated Shayi\u2019s contract without board approval, and offered him a R1.15?million settlement to leave the organisation six months early.<\/p>\n
Necsa said Shayi\u2019s contract came to an end and was not renewed.<\/p>\n
Responding to broader allegations, Necsa said: \u201cThe minister initiated a formal investigation in which the chairperson, the [chief executive] and members of the board compliantly participated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe various allegations from the Mail & Guardian\u2019s questions will have been addressed in such an inquiry and its report, which is currently with the minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Management issues’<\/strong><\/p>\n
The energy department said it would not respond to what it called \u201cunsubstantiated allegations\u201d against Tshelane until the minister\u2019s task team has completed its work on \u201cmanagement issues at Necsa\u201d.<\/p>\n
It added: \u201cThe filling of the Necsa [chief executive] post will follow normal prescribed processes and, once completed, a communiqu\u00e9 in this regard will be issued.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nuclear storm brews as board tries to oust energy chief\u00a0Necsa, a key player in the government\u2019s planned R1-trillion nuclear new-build programme, is at war over the future of its chief executive.<\/p>\n
* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
- Nuke plan: 50 shades of arms deal<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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