The Best of the Breakfast Show with Xolani Gwala

Eskom board spokesperson Khulani Qoma tells Xolani Gwala that late on Monday night Dr Ben Ngubane told him he was resigning as board chair due to personal reasons. The announcement was made by Public Enterprises Minister, Lynne Brown.

The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises is set to commence a full scale parliamentary inquiry into Eskom as requested by the Democratic Alliance. Acting chair of the committee Zukiswa Rantho says it’s taking legal advice to determine how to force Eskom to submit documents and abide by its investigation. Zukiswa says “We are going to have a committee meeting on Wednesday. 21 June, we are going to start on processes going forward.”

An emotional Justice Raymond Zondo, during his interview for the post of the Deputy Chief Justice in front of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), recounted how he asked for a loan before embarking on his law studies to feed his unemployed mother and siblings. Zondo replaced Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who retired.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has refuted claims that DRC immigrant Francine Kalala was turned away by three government hospitals before giving birth at Park Station last week. He says “Immediately I read the story, I phoned Steve Biko Academic Hospital. They checked all their records, they could not find such a patient. They even went to the CCTV camera and they saw nothing”

The Competition Commission kicked off it's inquiry into the grocery retail market on Monday, as part of an ongoing investigation into reports of unfair competition practices within the sector. Louis Greeff, Managing Director at Elite Star Trading Africa group (EST Africa) says, “There is a structural problem that has developed within the FMCG and the retail environment where the big four - Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Walmart and Spar - are the one-stop shop for all the suppliers”.

According to Jonathan Fairbairn, the photo of a man mowing his lawn despite an approaching tornado in the USA, trending on social media globally, has given rise to a new word... Mownado - meaning to not give a damn!

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille says “she has written a letter to the DA federal Executive council explaining why she shouldn’t be suspended from the party from the party”. She also said “she cannot admit guilt before  a trial, she needs to be given the right to state her case”. She says “the hearing needs to be fair in terms of the DA’s rules before she is found guilty. She says “In South Africa SA we are not ready for this crucial debate on how we re purpose aspects of colonialism”.

Eskom’s former CEO Brian Molefe has challenged the decision to have his appointment rescinded. Molefe has approached the Labour Court, serving papers on both the utility and Public Enterprise Minister Lynne Brown. Tony Healy, Labour consultant says “Seeing as he did confirm in writing that he would be living Eskom in December by Early Retirement, it is going to be very difficult for him to argue that his services weren’t terminated at the end of December” He is going to struggle with his reinstatement.

Statistician-General, Dr Pali Lehohla, highlighted that “the large number of people neither in school or employed was generational issue. He says that we are facing a demographic disaster. Lehohla says we can only understand these issues by dissecting population issues. He was responding to the question on the increased number of people that are neither in school or employed as stated in his announcement on Thursday on the unemployment rate is South Africa.

Sikhonathi Mantshantsha, Deputy Editor at Financial mail on the issue of Eskom and Brian Molefe says "He has no hope that the investigation will yield any results. He said Eskom has undergone at least 7 investigations over the past 7 years and none of them have yielded any results because the people that are supposed to act are the same people accused of the corruption. 

On the issue of AmaBhungane & Daily Maverick #GuptaLeaks story Sam Sole, Senior Investigative Journalist at Amabhungane centre for investigative Journalism, said that the magnitude of the information they have on the Guptas is on the scale of Wikileaks which would equate several hundred gigabytes of internal communication between people within Gupta organisation.