Cape Town – Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has revealed that a team tasked with investigating criminal activities at Eskom has made 126 arrests out of over 1 952 reported cases.
The power utility has been plagued by criminal syndicates, prompting calls from political parties for a police investigation into the individuals involved.
“A total of 1,952 Eskom-related cases were reported to the SA Police Service between 1 April 2022 and 29 May 2023, with 1,405 cases still under investigation, and 126 arrests have been made,” said Ramokgopa in a written reply to a parliamentary question from IFP MP Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi.
“Whilst much remains, these interventions are beginning to turn the situation around, and there are indications that operational measures implemented have clearly disrupted the activities of criminal syndicates,” IOL quoted Ramokgopa as saying.
The minister said this in a written reply to a parliamentary question from IFP MP Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi.
The police informed a parliamentary committee that various syndicates were operating at Eskom’s power stations, the report said.
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Ramokgopa said that senior officials from the police and State Security Agency were handling matters related to crimes committed at Eskom, including the alleged sabotage of power stations by syndicates.
Meanwhile, the minister told a media briefing on Friday that significant strides had been made in enhancing power station efficiency, as the energy availability factor had now reached an impressive 60%.
He said that the last time the EAF in the country was this high was in September 2022 and the increase would mean lower stages of load shedding.
Ramokgopa said there was a plan in place to improve the plan and ensure that all power stations are running smoothly
“Government is making significant, yet marginal, progress in relation to the improvement of the plan, which intends to better the performance of Eskom’s power stations in order to ensure energy security,” he said.
The minister said there had been a reduction in unplanned losses to less than 16 000MW, from over 18 000MW. In addition, planned maintenance had been reduced to approximately 2 500MW.
[Read] Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has attributed the reduced stages of load shedding to Eskom’s improved generation over the past week https://t.co/urU7OccckM pic.twitter.com/nfdG7sslu2
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
