Power giant Eskom has suspended four employees who appeared in a Carte Blanche expose.

The January show revealed how Eskom is hiring black foreigners simply to meet its black economic empowerment quotas.

The employees appeared on Carte Blanche and spoke out about being lied to by Eskom's human resources department.

They claim the parastatal made empty promises to lure them away from lucrative positions overseas in 2009 into posts within Eskom, which actually do not exist.

One woman said at the time that she believed the only reason she was at the company was to be "a BEE number."

"If you look at Eskom's books we are counted as Black South Africans, or as locals, whereas we're not," said a male employee.

The people received suspension letters on Tuesday, informing them they had until Thursday to explain why further action should not be taken against them.

Eskom has accused them of misconduct.

It said it would respond to questions posed by Eyewitness News on Wednesday.