Allegations of sabotage by executive taken seriously, says Eskom

Eskom says allegations of sabotage by an executive are being taken seriously. 

City Press reported police are looking to arrest an Eskom executive with top-secret security clearance they believe may be central to engineering and staging breakdowns at targeted power stations. 

The publication said the unnamed high-ranking executive is accused of appointing engineers to help ensure breakdowns at certain power stations to profit from the money needed to fix them.  

Eskom said it was serious about addressing sabotage and is committed to letting the law take its course.

“Eskom is committed to rooting out fraud, corruption and sabotage within its ranks and will fully co-operate with law enforcement to ensure the most effective and co-ordinated responses to crime related to Eskom’s operations,” it said. 

In November, former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter told SAfm sabotage of Eskom equipment and coal syndicates were among the criminal activities contributing to one stage of load-shedding. 

He said some stations experienced mysterious failures and oil leakages. 

De Ruyter said at the Camden power station, when they apprehended a suspect, they found the motive for the sabotage. The breaking down of equipment was to secure more work from Eskom. 

“This is a pattern. We found it at other power stations as well. At Tutuka, for example, people deliberately break equipment because that results in a maintenance call-out which puts money into the pockets of the maintenance contractors,” he said. 

Sunday Times also reported a forensic report had lifted the lid on wholesale sabotage of infrastructure by unscrupulous contractors and employees.

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