The Eskom prepayment to Tegeta was the financial mechanism that made the Gupta capture of Optimum Coal Mine possible. It represents one of the most brazen examples of state resources being diverted to fund private acquisitions.
Tegeta Exploration and Resources — owned by the Gupta family through Oakbay Investments (28.5%) and Duduzane Zuma through Mabengela Investments — agreed to acquire Optimum Coal Holdings from Glencore for R2.15 billion in December 2015. But Tegeta was approximately R600 million short of the purchase price.
On 13 April 2016, the day the Optimum acquisition was due to close, Eskom rushed through a R659 million "prepayment" for coal. The payment was processed in just 82 minutes — from submission to sign-off — an extraordinary speed for a transaction of this magnitude. The submission was co-drafted by Eskom Head of Generation Matshela Koko and signed off by CFO Anoj Singh and CEO Brian Molefe.
The payment was framed as a routine coal prepayment, but its timing and amount made its true purpose unmistakable: it bridged the funding gap for Tegeta's Optimum acquisition. Without this state-funded injection, the Gupta deal would have collapsed.
In addition to the R659 million prepayment, the Eskom board — under chairman Ben Ngubane — approved a R1.68 billion coal supply guarantee to Tegeta. The Zondo Commission found the board was "negligent" in approving this guarantee without proper scrutiny.
The Public Protector and the Zondo Commission subsequently found that the R2.15 billion acquisition of Optimum was funded "almost entirely by proceeds of crime." The Commission's finding was unambiguous: "The R659 million payment and the R1.68 billion guarantee were not made for the purpose of furthering the interests of Eskom. These were made with the single purpose of ensuring the Guptas' deal... did not fall through for want of finance."
After the Guptas fled South Africa in 2018, Optimum entered business rescue. It took six years before Liberty Coal — controlled by British businessman Daniel McGowan, a former Gupta associate — acquired the mine, paying R461.7 million to the state in a forfeiture deal settling NPA proceeds-of-crime claims.