A R1.7-million donation to the African National Congress (ANC) from a company linked to acting Eskom boss Matshela Koko’s stepdaughter has prompted the Democratic Alliance (DA) to lodge an additional request to the public protector for investigation.

Over the weekend, Sunday Times reported that Impulse International paid over R1-million to the ANC for its January 8 birthday bash held at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

The report alleges that after a contract was secured between Eskom and Impulse, the payment was made to the ANC. The DA believes this arrangement was a “conduit to siphon money to the ANC”.

The party will add this information to an already existing request for the public protector’s office to look into the links between Koko, his stepdaughter Koketso Choma and the ANC.

The DA submitted the initial request in March, following reports that Eskom awarded at least R1-billion in contracts to Impulse, a company where Choma was appointed as director. Impulse was awarded nine contracts from Eskom over a period of 11 months.

Eskom told Fin24 that Koko had not known of his stepdaughter’s involvement in the company. When this information came to light, he had asked her to resign.

“The public protector must now investigate and expose what the relationship between Koko, Choma, Impulse and the ANC really is,” said Natasha Mazzone, DA MP.

“It cannot be accepted that so much public money was allegedly improperly directed towards family insiders of the acting CEO of Eskom, only to land in the hands of the ANC,” she added.

Alleged ties with ANC

When asked about the allegations of ties between Eskom and the ANC, board spokesperson Khulani Qoma told Fin24 that there was no veracity to these allegations. “The allegations remain allegations… The allegations in any event are not verified themselves,” he reiterated.

The board has called for a legal and forensic investigation into the possible conflict of interest between Eskom's acting chief executive Koko and his stepdaughter, he explained. Until this investigation is complete, the facts will come to light. “All questions around Impulse will be answered by the investigation,” he said.

The investigation is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, he added. Law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is conducting the legal side of the investigation and Nkonki Incorporated is handling the forensics.