The South African Communist Party (SACP) on Tuesday said while it welcomed the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) move to recover funds from former Eskom executives, former board members, members of the Gupta family and their associates, it called for the arrests of all those implicated in illegally diverting the funds.

The State-owned power utility and the SIU have issued summons to recover about R3.8-billion.

Named in the summons are former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, former CFO Anoj Singh, former Group Executive for Generation Matshela Koko, who also served as acting chief executive, as well as Eskom's former head of legal Suzanne Daniels, former board chairperson Ben Ngubane, and former board members Chwayita Mabude and Mark Pamensky.

Former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane will also be summonsed, along with Gupta family associate Salim Aziz Essa and the Gupta brothers Rajesh, Atul and Ajay.

Eskom and the SIU said the claim for damages will attempt to recover money that was corruptly diverted from the utility to help the Gupta family and its associates acquire Optimum Coal Holdings Limited, which owned Optimum Coal Mining, which supplied the Hendrina power station with coal.

The SACP called for the successful prosecution of those found guilty.

“The recovery is a step in the right direction. However, the SACP calls upon relevant law enforcement agencies to arrest those implicated in looting at Eskom, including the directors, executives and staff of foreign-controlled multinational corporations who were involved in the theft and received the proceeds of the loot. Assets and funds owned by such individuals that are associated with the looting, must be retrieved by the Asset Forfeiture Unit,” the party said.