Cape Town - Eskom is gunning for several companies who were overpaid R4 billion for their work, with the power utility going to court to recoup the money.
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on Friday they were working closely with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on a number of cases of corruption in the entity.
However, the power utility wanted to recover R4bn in overpayments to several companies.
De Ruyter told Scopa that one company was overpaid R1bn while another was overpaid R735 million. Two other companies were overpaid by R1bn each, he said.
"The employees involved in these issues are under investigation by the SIU," said De Ruyter.
He said they have referred some of the cases to the National Prosecuting Authority for criminal action and have gone to court to sue for the contracts and get the money back.
In one particular case, 11 people were charged and the NPA was prosecuting the cases, said De Ruyter.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said they want to deal with corruption at Eskom.
He said those who are responsible for corruption must face the full might of the law.
"We are saying we are not apart with Eskom. We fully understand and appreciate the complexity of the challenges which prevail at Eskom and fully understand that there are going to be bold and tough decisions that have to be taken as part of the corrective action to deal with the historic matters," said Hlengwa.
"We are here to enhance that process because fundamentally and ultimately our job is to ask the question, 'what killed the patient’.
’’We look backwards going forward; we do the best of both worlds in that regard," said Hlengwa.
Political Bureau