Energy experts have lauded the arrest of nine people at the Kusile Power Station for coal theft and fraud.
This after eight weighbridge operators employed by Eskom Rotek Industries (ERI), and a coal truck driver were arrested on Thursday.
In a statement, the power utility said the suspects were arrested following an investigation by the police and an internal probe by Eskom, into a tip-off that coal haulers would bypass Kusile Power Station without offloading the ordered coal.
Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, said the investigation showed that the weighbridge operators would process transactions without the coal hauler having entered the power station to offload the coal.
“Kusile Power Station would, however, be invoiced for the coal ordered but not received.
“The theft of coal is a highly organised criminal activity, and the syndicates involved are being enriched through the proceeds derived from the illicit trade of the stolen products.
“Eskom continues to lose money due to the misappropriation and adulteration of these critical commodities,” she said.
Energy expert, Chris Yelland, said the theft of coal was a general level of criminality driven by greed, opposed to deeper political influence.
“This has the effect of crippling Eskom, that is a reality but in most cases its people looking to make money out of it. These thieves switch good coal for bad coal. In most cases they sell the good coal. This has the effects of making the current situation worse. This also has cost implications and dire consequences for the country, it's really not helping in any way and has negative effects on Eskom and the public,” he said.
Director of the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies at Stellenbosch University, Professor Sampson Mamphweli, said the arrests would send a strong message.
“We hope that they serve as a deterrent from other corrupt employees and service providers who have no regard for the impact that they have on the economy of this country. Corruption is one of the many reasons why we are struggling with load shedding today. If it was not for corruption we would be sitting with more generation capacity from Medupi and Kusile power stations by now. There have been a lot of acts of sabotage in this manner, and also other forms of sabotage by service providers who wanted contracts to fix the power stations,” he said.
Eskom’s acting general manager for security, Botse Sikhwitshi, said that the arrests were a step forward in the fight against crime at Eskom and in the country generally.
Cape Times