Six coal contracts were terminated by Eskom in a move to ensure clean governance between the power utility and its contractors, Eskom acting CE Matshela Koko said on Monday.

Eskom transports about 40-million tonnes of coal on road, using two methods – either a free carrier arrangement (FCA) or the “delivered” (DEL) method.

The FCA method is used when transporters are directly contracted to Eskom. The DEL system is when coal transporters are directly contracted to mines.

Eskom said it had 58 FCA’s bound to a four-year contract which will end in March 2018.

However, the power utility received a tip-off last July that several FCA transporters unlawfully increased their coal road transport fleet.

An investigation was opened soon after.

The results led to the suspension of six FCA transporters between 14 July and 7 September 2016‚ for seven weeks, according to Koko.

“Considering the discrepancies that surfaced during this limited investigation‚ Eskom commissioned an independent investigation into the unlawful introduction of additional trucks by FCA transporters,” he added.

Findings of secondary investigations revealed that the six FCA transporters who acted unlawfully prejudiced compliant FCA transporters.

These transporters include Constructibility 10CC‚ Fastrak‚ IM Monokoane‚ NJM Transport‚ Lamavuso, and Dhlams & Dhlams.

The termination of contracts came into effect last week Friday.

Koko said the conduct of these transporters “gravely deprived compliant transporters” regarding the “fair and equitable distribution of coal that was available to be hauled to Eskom’s power stations”.