Power station boss wears bulletproof vest after exposing corruption: Andre de Ruyter

One of SA's coal-fired power station managers wears a bulletproof vest and has two bodyguards after exposing corruption at the plant.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter revealed this on Thursday as he outlined the huge challenge of combating internal crime syndicates contributing to the country's power crisis.

“That’s not an ideal management situation,” De Ruyter said of the security measures in place at the plant, just one of many affected by criminality. He did not name the manager but lauded him for making strides against a “hotbed of corruption”. 

Speaking at an Exporters Western Cape networking event in Cape Town, De Ruyter referred to this week’s news of rocks instead of coal being delivered to another power station — just small enough to pass through the coal screening system. “We’ve been able to apprehend a truck driver who was involved in stealing coal from Eskom and delivering rock to our plants — rock doesn’t burn so well and really messes up your plant,” he added.

“Coal corruption is endemic in our supply chains,” he said. “It is a battle, it is really tricky,”

Eskom is, however, making strides towards combating crime syndicates.

De Ruyter said proactive measures to combat crime needed support from the criminal justice system in the form of arrests and prosecutions. Eskom could not fix the legacy of criminality in isolation, and it would take a collective effort to undo the damage already inflicted.

“There is an ecosystem in which we operate. A fish cannot swim in a toxic stream — unless we clean up the stream we cannot hope to fix Eskom,”  he said.

One recently discovered crime involved the theft of fuel oil worth around R100m a month.

Despite crime and other challenges, De Ruyter said he believed SA would survive its power crisis and possibly benefit from it in the form of business opportunities and a more competitive economy. He said the government needed private sector help in the form of new generation and demand-side management. There were also positive developments relating to cost recovery, debt financing and foreign investment.  “Good news is coming. But we left it very late. We left it until the point where action was inevitable.

“The tree has been shaken properly and we will really see some movement,” he said. 

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