More than 2 000 cases and arrests have been made in cases linked to criminality at Eskom.
Article continues below
This was announced by Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, during a media briefing on Monday.
“Over the period from April 2022 to date, there are 2 147 Eskom cases that have been reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and about 1 586 of these are under investigation. Since that period…126 arrests have been made.
“In addition to the technical solutions that we are seeking to resolve the issues at Eskom, we are also focused on addressing some of the underlying problems which have been issues of fraud, corruption and security,” he said.
Ramokgopa explained that law enforcement is hard at work, not only patrolling Eskom power stations but also investigating criminal activity linked to the power utility.
“A unit is located and embedded at Eskom and they also get to interact with various police stations that are attached to the various power stations.
“They do make regular visits not just to power stations but also to coal yards because they are trying to understand the anatomy of these criminal activities. They also go to second hand dealers just to ensure that people can account for their activities,” he said.
The Minister further stated that thousands of scrap yard dealers – where stolen Eskom copper cables can be sold – have been visited in thr crackdown on copper cable theft.
“They have visited about 15 043 scrap metal dealers. They have done compliance inspections so that we are able to undermine and cut the arteries of these syndicates and allow Eskom to do its work going forward,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that the work done by law enforcement, coupled with the recovery of some R93 million for Eskom coffers, carries a tangible impact not only for the power utility, but also citizens.
“We have tried to provide a physical value of what has been recovered but there’s a greater value that, from a security point of view, is intangible but from a technical point of view, is tangible.
“If we could be able to illustrate that some of the megawatts recovered are as a result of the work of our colleagues in the intelligence and security agency, the megawatts would far exceed the R93 million.
“Those would be the additional megawatts that are made available to the South African economy,” he said. ■
A clipper system will move quickly across the northern Plains into the Midwest Friday and the Northeast by Saturday, bringing a wintry mix of rain and snow showers ahead of a sweeping cold front.