A damning report into Eskom's dealings during the 2008 power crisis has revealed explosive allegations of several "irregular" tenders, Business Day has revealed.
Dubbed a "get rich scheme" by the paper, the report cites, amongst others, a contract given to a friend and several other irregularities allegedly committed by the man tasked with buying R10 billion's worth of coal during the 2008 blackouts.
The man fingered, Eskom's lead procurement negotiator Koos Jordaan, resigned after the investigation, and Eskom told Business Day that it had implemented the report's recommendations.
The investigation was done by auditing firm Deloitte and is the second report to emerge in several weeks, shining a light on dodgy procurement practices at the power utility.
The first report, compiled by Denton's, was also exposed by Business Day. It detailed how Eskom executives enriched themselves during the power blackouts.
Business Day quoted the Deloitte report as saying:
"It would appear that Mr Jordaan, and other Eskom employees, circumvented the prescribed Eskom tender policy and procedure by appointing suppliers under the emergency mandate when, in fact, these services did not relate to the emergency period and should have been dealt with under the normal Eskom procurement policies and procedures. From the interviews conducted, it appears that the 2008 emergency was not managed in the best interest of Eskom and resulted in fruitless and wasteful expenditure being incurred."
In one instance, a contract was given to a company called Isambane, the main shareholder of which is a friend of Jordaan's. The appointment happened "outside of normal Eskom tender process", the Deloitte report said.
Jordaan told Business Day that he had done nothing wrong and that he had nothing to hide. He said he derived no personal gain from his time at Eskom.
Meanwhile, Business Day also revealed that a criminal case was opened against Jordaan, but that the docket has gone missing.