The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday said that the swearing in of former Eskom group chief executive was bad for South Africa and evidence of an escalation in the civil war within the African National Congress (ANC) and the battle for control of National Treasury.

In 2016, Molefe quit shortly after the release of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report “State of Capture” which detailed extensive contact between him and the politically-connected Gupta family.

Madonsela found indications that Eskom had bent over backwards to give a coal supply contract to Tegeta, one of the companies in the Guptas business empire.

DA shadow Minister of Finance, David Maynier in a statement said that the DA was unsure, but suspected that Molefe would be appointed to the finance committee to serve time before being appointed as the deputy-minister of finance with a view to controlling the R1.8-trillion managed by the Public Investment Corporation.

“The fact is that appointing Brian Molefe to any position in the ‘finance family’ presents a clear-and-present danger to the institutional independence of National Treasury and will be bad for South Africa,” Maynier said.

“The Guptas will be delighted because, if the State of Capture report is anything to go by, and Brian Molefe is eventually appointed to a position in the ‘finance family’, they will finally have National Treasury, the Public Investment Corporation and South African Airways on ‘speed dial’.”

It has been reported that Molefe was sworn in this morning in the Speaker’s office, and the official announcement was expected to be made when the National Assembly sat Thursday afternoon.