The Department of Correctional Services buys coal to heat and power its prison estate. On 8 September 2026 Minister Pieter Groenewald announced that four senior officials — Chief Financial Officer Lebogang Marumule, the Chief Director for Supply Chain Management, the Director of Logistics and the Director of Legal Services — had been placed on precautionary suspension pending an investigation into alleged fraud in a coal-supply tender.
A criminal case was registered with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, and the department commissioned a forensic investigation to establish the extent of the irregularities and to identify individuals for prosecution. The department has not disclosed the supplier or the tender year; TimesLIVE and the Sowetan reported the contract as worth more than R1.6 billion. The minister said the department would "co-operate fully to ensure that those who are guilty are held to account."
The matter is at an early stage: no charges have been laid and the suspensions are precautionary. It is recorded here because the department's own accounting officer chain has been removed from office pending a Hawks case, on a contract of national scale, in a department whose procurement history includes the Bosasa network.