Former Eskom boss Matshela Koko has been vocal about the woes confronting the state-owned power utility.

The Sunday Times reported that Koko had been allegedly implicated in the looting of millions of rands from the Kusile power plant construction project‚ an allegation he has denied.

In interviews with 702's Eusebius McKaiser and the SABC on Monday‚ Koko broke down his thoughts on the ailing power utility and its troubles. He called the claims against him "nonsensical" and said "those people who understand how Eskom works will understand that they are being thrown a dummy".

Here are five quotes from Koko on Eskom:

Trouble looms

"[Eskom is in] big big trouble. Eskom has a capacity problem‚ a liquidity problem and it's a mountain to fix."

Load-shedding

"There is no risk of blackout‚ we have a very competent systems operator in Eskom and he will not allow South Africa to become another Venezuela."

Corruption

"I identified irregularities in Medupi and Kusile‚ which is primarily where Eskom lost the money. I dealt with it. I moved the people around. I was suspended for that. I was suspended for dealing with corruption."

Leadership

"I don't think we have a strong technical leadership at the top‚ that's what Eskom needs to do. We had competent people at the top [during his tenure] we ran that machine."

'Under attack'

"I left Eskom because the cabinet of South Africa took a decision to fire me. Its a cabinet decision that fired me. So we're dealing with political issues and the political issues are driven largely by the independent power producers."

- TMG Digital