Hawks investigate Eskom maintenance budget cash shuffle

With poor maintenance at SA’s power stations being named as the chief cause behind the country’s latest rolling power cuts, a Hawks team is now investigating how Eskom maintenance budgets were repeatedly redirected – and then looted through dodgy tenders.

March 24, 2019 at 00:00 am

Residents of Buccleuch, Kelvin, Paulshof, Marlboro, Sunninghill and Waterfall who have smart meters have been selected for the expansion of Eskom's 'load-limiting' initiative. File photo. (John Liebenberg)

With poor maintenance at SA’s power stations being named as the chief cause behind the country’s latest rolling power cuts, a crack Hawks team is now investigating how Eskom maintenance budgets were repeatedly redirected – and then looted through dodgy tenders.

Minutes of a 2015 Eskom board meeting reveal it approved transfers of cash between divisions totalling R313m. Eskom’s bosses at that time, including CEO Brian Molefe, chief financial officer Anoj Singh and director Mark Pamensky, have since been linked to state capture.

Read the full story in the Sunday Times.