Negligence by Eskom — not sabotage — led to the widespread power outages in the Western Cape, the Witness website reported on Monday. Because of this and the fact that Eskom had breached its licence conditions, the parastatal could see its licence conditions re-evaluated.
Eskom’s failure to respond to warnings and vital equipment that was not tested for years was also blamed. The power interruptions occurred from November last year to February this year.
These findings are contained in the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) final draft report. The Witness said its sister publication Fin24 had obtained a copy of the document.
The report said the six major incidents that occurred during the four-month period could be equated to an entire blackout in South Africa lasting for four hours.
Nowhere in the report, however, is there any mention of sabotage at the Koeberg nuclear power plant.
Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin caused an outcry when he went on record blaming sabotage for the outages. He said a loose bolt was found in the generator. He later withdrew the statement and said he would not become involved in a ”semantic debate” over the cause of the damage to the Koeberg power station.
Asked for comment on the report, Erwin’s spokesperson, Gaynor Kast, said: ”We can only comment on public documents. Minister Erwin will make a statement to Parliament regarding the investigation on Thursday August 17. We will issue a statement thereafter.”
The Nersa report stipulates that there were three breaches of licence conditions at the Koeberg unit, including that the automatic voltage regulator at the plant was last tested in 1996.
Other findings include:
- The November 11 incident: There was negligence on the part of personnel who did not allow proper instructions and procedures.
- The November 16 incident: The implementation of corrective measures was not adequate.
- The November 23 to 26 incidents: There was negligence on behalf of staff and corrective action was inadequate.
Nersa recommends that punitive and corrective measures be taken against Eskom in cases where there was transgression, and that Eskom’s licence conditions be re-evaluated.
Eskom maintains it did not breach any of its licence conditions, nor was it negligent. Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu said it is difficult to comment until Eskom is presented with the final report. — Sapa