The African National Congress (ANC) Study Group on Public Enterprises says it’s not satisfied with the responses of Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown and the Eskom board regarding the reinstatement of Brian Molefe as the power utility’s CEO.

The group says Molefe’s reinstatement raises questions of "possible fraud" which he may have  committed when he was sworn in as a Member of Parliament.

It blames Brown, who is empowered to exercise oversight over the entity, saying both the minister and Eskom "showed no comprehension of the magnitude of the crisis they have plunged Eskom into" during their presentation to the Portfolio Committee earlier on Tuesday.

In a statement, the ANC study group reiterated its call for the decision to reinstate Molefe to be rescinded "with immediate effect".

"The explanations provided around Mr Molefe’s state of employment at Eskom, or lack thereof, raises serious questions around possible fraud on his part at the time of being sworn in as a member of Parliament.

"We reiterate the call by our organisation that the decision to reappoint Mr Molefe as CEO of Eskom must be rescinded with immediate effect.

"It is the view of the study group that the current board of Eskom has total disregard for the principles of good governance. The study group takes a dim view on the state of affairs at Eskom and thus calls for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the Eskom board."

According to an affidavit earlier published on Fin24, Brown said she was not party to the decision to reappoint Molefe as chief executive officer of the power utility.

In court papers filed in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday, the minister said that she was not aware that Molefe had not resigned, but "had in fact applied for early retirement and that Eskom had on November 11, 2016 accepted such an application".

"I was therefore surprised on Sunday April 16, 2017 to read the article entitled Brian Molefe scores a R30-million payout from Eskom," said Brown.

To her mind, Molefe's "resignation was just that", and she didn't understand why Molefe had to get the said R30-milion pension pay-out.