Johannesburg – A significant increase in the number of anonymous electricity theft tip-offs has been recorded in the North West following Eskom’s Operation Khanyisa awareness campaign, which took place in the province recently.
Operation Khanyisa is Eskom’s national behaviour change campaign aimed at promoting the legal and safe use of electricity.
According to Eskom’s Operation Khanyisa champion in North West Bryan Katane, customers and community members are coming out in large numbers to report electricity theft in general, including ghost vending – the selling of illegal prepaid electricity vouchers, a crime which Katane says has gone relatively unreported in the area.
“People are coming forward with useful information and as a result investigations are currently being carried out across the province,” he said on Sunday.
Energy protection officials in the area also conducted audits on a continuous basis and had, for instance, audited about 60 percent of villages in the Rustenburg region.
Nationally, since 2013, Operation Khanyisa had recovered more than R800 million in revenue, primarily from fines and reconnection fees paid and prevented a further R1.4 million worth of electricity that would have been generated at a loss.
Furthermore, the campaign had resulted in the arrest of 50 electricity theft suspects and the opening of 26 cases in various courts.
Katane appealed to all South Africans across the country to continue to work with Eskom in its fight against electricity theft, which was costing the country R20 billion a year.
African News Agency