Eskom, whose top brass have drawn a line in the sand on graft within the company and by suppliers, has upped the ante in its bid to rid the power producer of rogue elements, calling in forensic investigators to clear a backlog of cases. It said AI would be deployed to assist in the process.In one of its biggest fightbacks against criminal employees, Eskom is looking to rope in expert consultants to provide specialised forensic services not currently available within the utility to strengthen its capacity to respond effectively to fraud, corruption and irregularities.The consultants will be required to provide forensic investigation services across Eskom and its subsidiaries.“In recent years, forensics has experienced a growing backlog of unresolved matters, which has escalated into a material systemic and governance risk,” Eskom says in its tender document. “This backlog undermines Eskom’s ability to respond decisively to fraud and corruption, conclude disciplinary processes in a timely manner, and demonstrate effective consequence management.“To address this challenge, forensic seeks the intervention of external service providers with the requisite expertise to assist in clearing the backlog. Accordingly, Eskom intends to establish a panel of external forensic investigation service providers.”One of the main tasks of the forensic investigators will be to provide effective support to the consequence management processes to allow for increased recovery of losses (civil litigations) and assist in terms of criminal prosecutions and disciplinary hearings.The terms of reference for the panel will include, among other things, digital forensics, analysis, and preservation of electronic evidence.The forensic investigators will also be expected to use data analytics and AI to detect anomalies and patterns in contracts and offer polygraph services.The move by Eskom will unsettle employees and suppliers who thought their cases were dead and buriedThe external experts must also be armed with handwriting analysis acumen and the ability to analyse documents for alterations, authenticity and fraud detection.The move by Eskom will unsettle employees and suppliers who thought their cases were dead and buried, with the utility’s executives keen to see matters finalised and disciplinary and criminal charges pursued against those found with their hands in the cookie jar.Eskom, due to its yearly multibillion-rand spend on maintenance and procurement, has long been the source of mass graft, with collusion between some of its 40,000 employees and suppliers to fleece the utility.The company, which accounts for more than 80% of South Africa’s electricity, was flagged as one of the nerve centres for state capture alongside Transnet, its equally maintenance- and procurement-heavy sister state-owned entity. Under the leadership of CEO Dan Marokane and chair Mteto Nyati, Eskom has not been shy to own up to procurement lapses in the organisation and has sought to get rid of bad apples.One of the biggest anti-corruption clampdowns has been on the multibillion-rand diesel procurement and storage contracts, particularly the R21bn open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) diesel supply and storage contract for the Ankerlig and Acacia power stations.In this contract, the allegation is that the utility splashed out R3bn in irregular prepayments to suppliers who lacked the capacity to deliver.To get to the bottom of this, Eskom roped in external investigators, and the independent forensic firm has furnished it with an interim report. The final report is set for mid-June.The interim report has identified instances of non-adherence to Eskom processes in both the procurement of services and management of the contracts. Eskom has wasted little time acting on findings in the interim report, starting disciplinary proceedings against several employees who breached procurement processes.A perusal of Eskom’s annual reports shows that corruption related to its online vending system has been rife.Rogue elements, including some from within, have fleeced Eskom of at least R20bn over the past three years by printing and distributing electricity tokens using a compromised system.In the year ended March 2025, the group reported material losses of R7.2bn due to criminal conduct, up from R6.7bn reported in the previous year. Losses attributed to criminal activity for the 2023 financial year amounted to about R6bn.The R7.1bn of losses in the 2025 financial year relate to “nontechnical energy losses arising from electricity theft, including ghost vending”.Eskom’s open vending system is a critical revenue collection system used for dispensing prepaid electricity tokens to customers.Civil society group Afriforum recently convinced the Supreme Court of Appeal that Eskom’s lucrative coal contracts should be made public.The country’s second-highest court found that the reasons advanced by Eskom — which procures about R70bn in coal annually — to decline a request by Afriforum to have sight of its coal and diesel contracts fell short of the legal requirements of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.One of the reasons advanced by Eskom and rejected by the court was that coal contracts were commercially sensitive, and the publication of the terms and conditions it had agreed with suppliers would compromise it in future negotiations, as this had the potential to allow existing and prospective suppliers to negotiate higher prices.Buoyed by the legal victory, AfriForum has assembled a team that will peruse the contracts Eskom will hand over to see if “coal and diesel contracts are market-related and legally concluded”. Business Times