FORMER Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga will not be reinstated to his position even though his termination was found to be illegal by the high court in Johannesburg.

FORMER Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga will not be reinstated to his position even though his termination was found to be illegal by the high court in Johannesburg.

The Sunday Independent reported that Judge Moroa Tsoka said the relationship between Maroga, pictured, and Eskom's board had irretrievably broken down, and that he could not be reinstated as Eskom's chief executive or prevent the board from appointing a successor.

The Eskom board fired Maroga in November after he denied that he had offered to resign from the public utility.

"This, in my view, is unlawful termination of Mr Maroga's employment contract," said Tsoka in his judgment.

Tsoka found that Maroga had not been allowed to respond to allegations of poor performance, a right that was detailed in his contract.

"In fact, the evidence on record reveals that the two acts of poor performance, namely failure to produce a funding model to save Eskom money and to renegotiate Eskom's long-term contracts, cannot be true as, at the end of December 2009, Eskom (had) saved R10bn due to Mr Maroga's actions," read the judgment.

"With regards to Mr Maroga's alleged failure to renegotiate the long-term contracts, there was no certainty that this would be acceptable to other parties. In any event, it is common cause that this would be a costly exercise."

Further, Tsoka said that it was in the public interest and good corporate governance for there to be certainty over the leadership of Eskom. - Sapa