Police Minister Bheki Cele is under pressure to act against those involved in sabotaging Eskom’s power stations.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) requested Cele to provide an update on the progress in investigating and arresting those involved in sabotaging power stations.
In the letter signed by general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, Saftu said it was clear that Cele was aware of the persons involved.
Recently, Cele had said several instances of sabotage at the utility were brought to his attention. Police were looking to arrest an Eskom executive, who had top-secret security clearance and was believed to be central to engineering, and staging breakdowns at power stations. Cele had said the SAPS was also investigating some executive managers at Eskom.
“The media reported the police are aware of this individual. From the quoted comments of the Minister of Police, it is clear that the SAPS is aware of these persons. Yet, we have not seen any reports of them being arrested,” Saftu said.
“Saftu requests an update on the progress in investigating and arresting these alleged culprits and their criminal troops who, in our view, are committing acts of treason against the people of this country.”
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba did not respond to specific questions put to the ministry. Themba said Saftu’s letter has been received and would be responded to.
The trade federation’s request came after Eskom confirmed that it had suspended head of security Karen Pillay for allegedly engaging in activities to sabotage the power stations and embezzling about R500 million in security contracts.
Pillay’s suspension came in the wake of leaked WhatsApp messages connecting her to sabotage at the power station which caused damage to critical infrastructure and worsened the energy crisis in the country.
It has also been revealed that Fidelity Services Group was awarded a R500 million contract for three months, without a bidding process having taken place. Pillay allegedly played a central role in the agreement.
According to media reports, Saftu said the sabotage had led to the unavailability of 30% of Eskom’s generation capacity between April and November 2022. That meant the power utility lost 14 100 megawatts, on average, in eight months in 2022.
“It is safe, therefore, to conclude that this sabotage would have exacerbated Eskom’s higher stages of load shedding.
“If these acts of sabotage continue unabated, combined with failure at proper maintenance, the country will be plunged into even higher load shedding stages because of these criminal activities.”
The federation said crime had also surged during load shedding as thugs used the cover of darkness to commit burglaries on residential and non-residential property. The crimes included stealing Eskom cables.
Saftu said businesses had increased input costs due to extra costs for alternative power, adding that in a typical business manner, they had absorbed the costs by passing them onto workers at three levels: retrenchments, a reduction in working hours and wages, and increasing prices of goods. All that added to inflation and exacerbated the cost of living crisis.
Saftu said it had also disrupted the proper provision of social services in public institutions such as schools and hospitals. It had led to preventable hospital deaths and inconvenienced school teaching and learning.
“For these reasons, the people sabotaging Eskom and their companies are of interest to us as Saftu. Law enforcement agencies pursuing them are even of greater interest to us, especially because we stand… opposed to corruption of any sort.”
Asked if more suspensions could be expected, Eskom spokesperson Theresa Magubane said the utility would provide feedback as soon as possible.