There is no evidence of any organised group of any sort being the agent of an act of sabotage at Koeberg — which led to the shutdown of the nuclear plant earlier this year — South Africa’s Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin told Parliament on Thursday.
Erwin was speaking after months of controversy over remarks he made the day before the local government elections on March 1 that a bolt — found in the rotor and stator mechanisms at Koeberg — “did not get there by accident”. His statement was interpreted as indicating that there had been sabotage.
Official opposition MP Hendrik Schmidt immediately accused Erwin of making “an exceedingly reckless statement”, which had been crafted to have an influence on the elections — where the ruling African National Congress was under particular pressure in the Western Cape.
ANC MP Peter Hendrickse argued that if he wished to influence the elections, the minister — who was normally straight talking — would have made the statement much earlier.
Referring to the incident on December 25 last year, Erwin said in the National Assembly on Thursday: “The word sabotage generally conveys such organised action by a group and our initial concern was to eliminate such a serious possibility.
“It was also why I did not use the word sabotage as we had to verify the existence or otherwise of a group before any such word was appropriate. The non-existence of any such group has now been conclusively established.”
After the controversy over his initial remarks, he referred instead to “human instrumentality”.
Clarifying his statements, Erwin said, in a prepared statement: “This question has caused massive public interest. Of as much interest has been whether I said that this was an act of sabotage. I did not say this and all attempts I made to our erudite media to say what I did say merely got me into deeper linguistic difficulties.”
The minister said the actual events “are clear and now very well understood. When the generator was opened up a bolt was found in it.”
“This bolt should not have been there — it was of a type that was used outside and not inside the generator and the clean-conditions controls had been implemented but had clearly not prevented it being within the generator. This was an obvious cause of concern.”
Indicating that negligence by Eskom staff, rather than sabotage was involved, the minister noted that he would “not comment on individual persons who may have been the subject of any investigation”.
“To do so in the absence of any formal charge laid against them would be an absolutely unacceptable action. Secondly, I will not comment on employees who may be subject to any internal procedures in the company for the same reasons.
“Thirdly, I will not disclose information that may have operational and security implications for Koeberg or the transmission system,” he said.
Defending the minister, National Assembly public enterprises portfolio committee chairperson and ANC MP Yunus Carrim noted that Schmidt’s reference to the bolt being in the generator not being an accident “doesn’t necessary mean sabotage”.
He said that there had been no mention of sabotage by the minister. He accused opposition members of reading prepared speeches.
Carrim acknowledged that it was true that the loose bolt turned into “a loose cannon”. — I-Net Bridge