The South African National Defence Force says their deployment at Eskom power stations will reduce acts of criminality at the power utility. SANDF members are being deployed to Camden, Thuthuka, Majuba and Grootvlei power stations in Mpumalanga.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of the members at the power utility over the weekend. It is reported that more than a dozen people have been arrested and charged for sabotage and theft at Eskom. These acts have also been blamed for rolling the blackouts.
SANDF Spokesperson, Andries Mahapa, says the move is part of Operation Prosper aimed at protecting critical infrastructure.
“The South African National Defence Force has been deployed to `bolster the protection of the Eskom critical infrastructure for the protection of the power generation, the term of the deployment is currently unknown as it will be informed by the intelligence agencies on whether threats are persisting or getting less as we continue”
Meanwhile, Security and Defence Analyst Helmut Heitman, says that the decision by power utility Eskom to deploy soldiers for the protection of energy infrastructure isn’t a foolproof solution, as the job requires personnel who knows what is going on at the power station in order to protect it.
Eskom has been plagued by alleged acts of sabotage and vandalism of infrastructure.
This has partly contributed to the heightened stages of rolling blackouts, which recently reached stage 6.
Heitman says soldiers are not trained for this kind of work.
“All they can do is provide a bit of muscle for the normal security guards at the gate, maybe look over their shoulders to make sure that the right permits are being shown to get in and out, and things like that, that’s about all they can do. Soldiers can provide additional security for a station, but not ten soldiers. The power station is a large piece of land with lots of buildings, lots of machinery, even the parameter is pretty long, 10 people are simply not enough to monitor it all.”
Eskom confirms that the army deployed to a number its power stations: Andy Grudko
