Eskom has started vetting contractors and employees after multiple complaints of sabotage at its power plants while the search for a new chief executive continues.
Eskom has started vetting contractors and employees after multiple complaints of sabotage at its power plants while the search for a new chief executive continues.
Eskom said it had been faced with multiple incidents of contractors colluding with Eskom employees to sabotage plants so that they can do the repair work and extend their contracts with the utility.
The collusion has caused the utility to implement rolling outages to give the contractors time for repair work.
Eskom’s continued decline has come at a high cost to the economy, with some economists estimating that stage six load-shedding will deal a R4 billion blow for each day the blackouts persist.
The heightened levels of sabotage are part of the reason for the departure of Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter, who cited the lack of political support as a reason for leaving the utility.
De Ruyter cautioned that a lack of political will to act against the alleged criminal syndicates could cripple Eskom.
Numerous problems
The utility faces numerous operational problems. The situation is exacerbated by incidents of criminal syndicates operating at its power stations across the country.
The situation would be more bearable, De Ruyter said during a December media briefing, “if there was more support from the criminal justice system to act against those who do get caught for crimes committed against Eskom and its employees.”
The utility’s increasing threat of sabotage saw President Cyril Ramaphosa deploying the South African National Defence Force to guard several power plants during the ANC’s national conference.
During a parliamentary response to Democratic Alliance MP Farhat Essack’s question on what on-site monitoring mechanisms Eskom has put in place to supervise external contractors, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said the utility was carrying out security screening of all contracts and of all contractor employees at Eskom sites.
He said the companies involved were also being investigated by the State Security Agency and other law enforcement agencies.
“Security is compiling a database of companies and persons to enable the listing/red-flagging of individuals and entities as part of due-diligence investigations,” Gordhan said.
In addition, Eskom has instructed that police security clearance checks are required before contractors are granted admission to Eskom sites.
Responding to written questions, Eskom said it has a risk-based approach to perform contract reviews in which all flagged contracts are subjected to a preliminary investigation to empower management to make informed decisions.
“The flagging instruments are in the form of contract management in which contract performance is monitored; the fraud hotline where stakeholders can report suspicious contracts; internal and external audit findings; as well as complaints [about] the procurement and supply chain management system,” the utility said.
Eskom said it is also enforcing controls on new contracts and on those contracts which are being targeted for modifications or review.
“In addition, where there is irregular expenditure on contracts, they are reviewed for elements of fraud and corruption,” it said.
Back and forth
De Ruyter complained that there is no action taken against perpetrators. He cited the fact that truck drivers arrested at the Camden power station in Mpumalanga on charges of fraud and theft of Eskom’s coal were allowed to walk free after appearing in the Emakhazeni (Belfast) magistrate’s court proved that the justice system was also against Eskom.
The charges were reportedly withdrawn due to insufficient evidence.
De Ruyter expressed his frustration at this and other turns of events, saying that charges were withdrawn despite perpetrators having confessed to the crimes.
“This leaves you a little disheartened and it makes one wonder to what extent the criminal justice system is serious about combating these types of crimes against the state. If there are no consequences for those caught committing crimes, it becomes that much harder for Eskom to even begin to fight back”, he said.
Progress made in 2022
There were several arrests in 2022 related to the theft of coal and diesel and one case of active sabotage.
A contractor working at the Camden power station in Mpumalanga was arrested after he was positively linked to an incident of sabotage. The contractor confessed that he purposefully damaged equipment to cause a breakdown at the power station so that his employer could get more maintenance contracts from the power utility.
The contractor intentionally removed a bearing oil drain plug from a bearing, causing the oil burners to trip repeatedly, Eskom said in November.
Despite his confession, the contractor was released after the state said it did not have enough evidence to prosecute.
In yet another case in November last year, a truck driver and his supervisor from a transport company subcontracted to transport coal to the utility’s Matla power station in Mpumalanga were arrested for allegedly stealing quality coal and replacing it with poor quality coal. The two were later released on bail.
In another incident, two security guards employed by a company contracted by Eskom to protect Port Rex power station in East London were arrested for stealing 5 863 litres of diesel in November. The suspects are still awaiting trial.
New leadership
The utility is searching for a replacement for De Ruyter after his contract ends at the beginning of April. The candidates have requested that there be minimal interference from the government.
According to the utility, it is searching for a candidate that “has a deep knowledge of the energy sector and Eskom itself”.
This follows a series of public attacks on De Ruyter by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe. In December, Mantashe said that Eskom was “actively agitating for the overthrow of the state”.
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