Former Eskom chief executive Matshela Koko, after sitting for five hours in the Middelburg Magistrates' Court in Mpumalanga, has been released on bail of R300,000.

Matshela Koko and former SA Local Government Association chief executive Thabo Mokwena, Eskom project director at Kusile (most senior on site) Hlupeka Sithole and Watson Seswai were also released on R300,000 bail.

Koko's wife Mosima, his stepdaughters Koketso Aren and Thabo Choma, and lawyer Johannes Coetzee were each released on R70,000. They were ordered to hand in their passports and are not allowed to apply for new travel documents.

On Thursday, court proceedings were delayed due to rolling blackouts and only commenced at 2pm, with the bail decision reached at about 7pm.

Initially, the court heard Koko's contention that he was unemployed and unable to afford the high bail amount asked for by the state - in the same breath, the court heard his business interest outside the country amounted to millions of US dollars. The State argued that this made him as a flight risk.

Koko, his wife and his two stepdaughters are among eight people arrested on Thursday following a joint operation by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA's) Investigating Directorate...