South African authorities, including the South African Revenue Service, have jointly conducted an operation to disrupt a coal smuggling syndicate operating across five of the country's nine provinces. This operation specifically targeted former employees of the state power utility Eskom Holdings who were involved in procurement fraud.

The modus operandi of the syndicate involved diverting high-grade coal that was meant for Eskom power plants to private coal yards, where it was replaced with lower-quality coal. The high-grade coal was then exported. It is estimated that the suspects defrauded the tax collector of more than R500 million.

The joint effort by government agencies aims to crack down on this fraudulent activity and uphold the integrity of coal procurement for South Africa's power generation sector.