NATIONAL NEWS - Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe and his legal team will now have to regroup and ponder on their next move after the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday refused them leave to appeal the January decision, which ordered Molefe to pay back all money received from the power utility’s pension payout.

Molefe’s lawyer, Barry Farber, spoke to journalists at the Pretoria court following the ruling Tuesday, saying: “We are gonna consult, and regroup, and see what happens.”

Farber said at this stage it was not a foregone conclusion that Molefe’s next move would be to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to hear his case – appealing the high court’s January decision.

“We need his instructions, I can’t tell a client what to do,” said Farber.

The lawyer said Molefe would now abide by the high court’s decision, but the former Eskom CEO will not pay back what he doesn’t think he should.

“Obviously he is going to abide by the court judgment, but he is not going to pay back that which he does not think he should. That is something else that needs to be deliberated on and debated. Surely, he is a law-abiding citizen and he will abide by the court for sure,” said Farber.

Earlier, a full bench of high court judges refused Molefe leave to appeal their January decision, and established that he had resigned from Eskom, was not entitled to a pension payout and must pay back the R11 million already advanced from the R30-million pension payout granted to him.

Read more on the Caxton publication, The Citizen.