{"id":642483,"date":"2026-04-21T18:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642483"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:07:10","slug":"eskom-paid-r50000-for-relays-which-cost-r180-from-other-suppliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/642483-eskom-paid-r50000-for-relays-which-cost-r180-from-other-suppliers.html","title":{"rendered":"Eskom paid R50,000 for relays which cost R180 from other suppliers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Eskom officials at the Kusile and Matla power stations signed off on contracts that priced relays at R50,000 each, even though the market price ranged from R180 to R450.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was revealed in a recent Special Investigating Unit (SIU) statement about the corruption which occurred at Eskom between 2021 and 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOfficials approved inflated and irregular purchase orders for relays, which are equipment meant to keep power stations running,\u201d the SIU said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Special Investigating Unit said that this manipulation resulted in a direct financial loss of R74 million to Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SIU said businessman Siyabonga Moses Goodwill Nkosi was at the centre of this corruption, which has now landed him in hot water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cInstead of delivering reliable service, Nkosi\u2019s companies delivered invoices,\u201d it said in a statement on 21 April 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SIU explained that Eskom officials split purchase orders to keep transactions below the R1 million threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By keeping the purchase orders below R1 million, they abused the informal tendering system and bypassed formal procurement processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFalse part numbers were uploaded to Eskom\u2019s systems to ensure only colluding vendors could bid,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This inflated the cost of equipment that was never needed and remains in stock at the power stations years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SIU secured a preservation order from the Special Tribunal, freezing 17 immovable properties worth R76.5 million and 7 luxury cars linked to Nkosi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The order prevents these assets from being sold, transferred, or hidden while the SIU seeks to set aside irregular contracts and recover public funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Eskom overpaid for products and services for years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Andre-De-Ruyter.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-616408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Andre-De-Ruyter.png 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Andre-De-Ruyter-600x338.png 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Andre-De-Ruyter-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Paying R50,000 for something which cost between R180 and R450 may shock many people. However, this is nothing new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former Eskom generation executive Rhulani Mathebula said Eskom regularly paid up to 1,000% more for services and materials because of fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that corruption and fraud caused significant delays in awarding contracts and were the biggest enemies of progress at Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former Eskom CEO Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter exposed many examples of fraud and corruption at the power utility, which included the cases below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Eskom paid R80,000 for a pair of knee guards that cost R320 at Builders Warehouse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid R200,000 for a wooden-handled mop, which costs less than R100 at most stores.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid R940,000 for an oil storage container that could have been bought for R80,000.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid a company R600,000 to fix 12 grass trimmers. The power utility could have bought 12 new grass trimmers for R114,000.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid R26.00 per single one-ply toilet paper roll, which costs R3.99 at Checkers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid R51 per black refuse bag, which costs R2.99 at Checkers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eskom paid R21 for a litre of milk, which costs R12.49 at Checkers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A buyer at Kendal Power Station placed an order to refurbish two compressors for R368,550. The price of two new compressors would have been R112,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>De Ruyter said South African police and security services do little to protect Eskom against widespread fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said they reported the fraud to the police, but the perpetrators are often released without any charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last year, the SIU announced many preservation orders linked to corruption at Eskom, which may signal a change at the power utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SIU preservation order against Siyabonga Moses Goodwill Nkosi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19-1200x674.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19-1200x674.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-19.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13-1200x674.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13-1200x674.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-13.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9-1200x674.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9-1200x674.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-9.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8-1200x674.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8-1200x674.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-8.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eskom officials at the Kusile and Matla power stations signed off on contracts that priced relays at R50,000 each, even though the market price ranged from R180 to R450. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":642511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[61891,181,19881,73794,77984,104731,24260],"class_list":["post-642483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-andre-de-ruyter","tag-eskom","tag-kusile","tag-matla","tag-rhulani-mathebula","tag-siyabonga-moses-goodwill-nkosi","tag-special-investigating-unit-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642483"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642565,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642483\/revisions\/642565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}