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SAFTU calls for arrest of Eskom executive suspected of sabotage

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The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is calling for the arrest of an Eskom executive suspected of sabotaging power stations.

This follows reports that police are working to arrest an Eskom official allegedly working with auditors and engineers to ensure breakdowns occur at various power stations.

SAFTU says the assets of those implicated should be attached to recoup losses. SAFTU’s National Spokesperson, Trevor Shaku says, “We are calling for the speedy processing of that issue so that those implicated can be arrested. The problems that have come out of the sabotages, which are alleged to have happened…we must be quick to stop that. We do not think it would be one person because of the many reports of acts of sabotage in the past. It means there are probably bigger or a couple of works that are operating to sabotage the operation of Eskom and benefit from it.”

Previous arrests 

In November last year, a contractor working at Camden power station in Mpumalanga was arrested after being positively linked to an incident of sabotage.

Eskom said the contractor admitted to intentionally removing the oil drain plug causing oil burners to trip repeatedly.

Following that arrest, former CEO, Andre de Ruyter spoke about wide-ranging acts of sabotage at various power stations.

De Ruyter said mysterious failures have been reported during rolling blackouts.

“The issue is quite pervasive and very serious. We had an incident where an unknown person tried to cut through a conveyor belt, which feeds coal into the boilers, which would have led to significant disruption. We do have mysterious failures, oil leakages, and equipment knocked out. So, this is a serious problem and it is quite wide-ranging.”

De Ruyter elaborates in the poscast on SAfm below:  

 

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