WATCH | Designer brands, cattle and posh cars: The soft life of Eskom fraud accused businessman

From expensive overseas trips to luxury vehicles, Siyabonga Nkosi and his wife Leleti lived a life of wealth which played out in social media posts.

Nkosi, who is accused of overcharging Eskom for relays with a market price of R450 ballooning to R50,000 per unit, lived a life of opulence.

Leleti shared glimpses of their lifestyle on her social media pages, including images of luxury vehicles, a herd of cattle and overseas travel.

Posts show the couple visiting France, Greece, the US, Mauritius and Egypt, and high-end designer items.

Leleti has since deleted some of her posts displaying their lavish lifestyle.

Nkosi is alleged to have colluded with Eskom employees at Matla and Kusile power stations in Mpumalanga to submit inflated invoices through which millions were paid out.

Eskom is estimated to have suffered losses of more than R76.5m.

Over two years, Nkosi built himself an empire comprising 10 luxury properties, including land in three provinces, to the value of about R50m. In the same period, 2021 to 2023, he bought five supercars, including two Lamborghini Urus’.

This information is contained in the preservation order from the Special Tribunal which the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) secured.

The order gives the SIU the green light to freeze sales of Nkosi’s 17 homes and seven cars while it recovers the stolen funds.

The frozen property includes a Porsche Macan and a Porsche Panamera GTS and seven houses bought before the alleged Eskom fraud.

According to the document, Nkosi accumulated assets which he then transferred to trusts.

He bought the first property, a house in Zimbali, KwaZulu-Natal, in February 2021. The next month, he bought two properties in Zimbali and Mpumalanga for just more than R13.7m.

Two months later, he forked out R5.7m for a fourth house at Molokai Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, and land worth R4.6m in Mpumalanga.

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In November 2021, he splashed out R13.5m to buy a penthouse at the luxurious Capital on the Park in Sandown, Gauteng.

SIU spokesperson Selby Makgotho said the purpose of the preservation order is to safeguard the assets so the state can recover losses if the SIU case succeeds.

“The deeds registry has been directed to place caveats on the properties, while the Road Traffic Management Corporation has been instructed to ensure the vehicles cannot be sold or transferred,” Makgotho said.

Makgotho said Eskom officials at Kusile and Matla power stations turned procurement processes into a “jackpot” which benefited Nkosi’s company.

Sowetan