The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday it has asked Parliament to ensure Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown provides MPs with documents relating to Brian Molefe’s reappointment at Eskom, as well as the R30-million pension pay-out she rejected.

DA public enterprises spokesperson Natasha Mazzone said she has asked the secretary of the portfolio committee on public enterprises that the minister table Molefe’s initial and current contracts, the pension proposal as well as the minutes of the Eskom board meeting relating to his reappointment and her letter approving the step.

Mazzone said Brown’s refusal to appear before the portfolio committee last week to answer questions on the matter on the grounds that it was sub judice was spurious and she had in effect “bunked out of accounting to Parliament”.

The DA is challenging Molefe’s reappointment as CEO of Eskom, after a brief stint as an African National Congress (ANC) MP, in court.

Brown will now be briefing the portfolio committee on Tuesday morning.

She is finding herself under pressure on several fronts over Molefe’s return to Eskom, as it has also been condemned by the ANC.

The minister vetoed the board’s proposal for a hefty pension payout to Molefe, and has said under the circumstances the public would get better value from him taking up his old job.

She has also defended him against suggestions in the Public Protector’s “State of Capture” report that Eskom on his watch strove to benefit the Gupta family’s Tegeta Exploration. The outcome of an investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers released by National Treasury this month confirmed that the company did not follow due process when it contracted with Tegeta as a coal supplier.

Mazzone accused Brown of ignoring signs of corruption.

“Tomorrow’s meeting of the Portfolio Committee will be the first time Minister Brown will have to account before Parliament regarding the Brian Molefe fiasco,” she said.

“There has been a complete breakdown of good governance at Eskom, and Minister Brown’s seeming indifference to the capture of Eskom by the Zuma-Gupta mafia corruption ring has gone on for too long.”