Brian Molefe's days are numbered at the helm of Eskom.

The ANC's national executive committee has decided that Molefe should be removed from his post. A three-day NEC meeting at the weekend discussed wide-ranging issues including Molefe's controversial reappointment at the state owned company.

It discussed a call for President Jacob Zuma to step down amid evidence piling up of the integral role he and his son, Duduzane, have played in the capture of the state for the benefit of the controversial Gupta family. Molefe himself has been implicated in the state capture saga, as has Eskom board chairman Ben Ngubane.

The ANC has been critical of Molefe's appointment from the start describing it as "reckless" and a "disgrace".

The DA is challenging his appointment in the high court. Court submissions by Molefe, Ngubane and Public Enterprise Minister Lynne Brown further convoluted the issue, after they revealed that he did not in fact resign. The NEC, which is ANC's highest decision making body between conferences, agreed that Molefe should not have been appointed to the post again. It is now up to the minister and the board to remove him. The meeting finished late yesterday and the ANC will brief the media about its decisions today.

Meanwhile, the DA argued in court papers that Molefe's appointment remained unlawful. DA federal chairman James Selfe has argued that the reinstatement agreement was unlawful as Brown had no input in the matter, despite having "exclusive power" to appoint the chief executive.

"Eskom believed it was unnecessary to obtain any formal approval from the minister because it was simply a 'reinstatement' ... this is not correct as the choice to reinstate Mr Molefe on these terms was a deliberate choice of several options available to the board and the minister," Selfe said.

"Accordingly, the minister's approval was required."