Africa Business News

The South African authorities say they have uncovered a coal-smuggling syndicate that has played a major role in exacerbating the country's energy crisis. The South African Revenue Service led what was described as a search and seizure operation across five provinces where the smugglers are active - Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Limpopo. The suspects include former employees of the state-owned electricity firm, Eskom. A statement said the scam involved high-grade coal being sold off and replaced with a low-grade product which has been damaging power stations.