Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the Minister of Electricity, has announced that a team formed to probe illegal activity at Eskom has detained 126 persons out of more than 1,952 cases reported.
Eskom has been under assault by criminal syndicates, and political parties have demanded that the police probe the personalities behind the cartels. According to one minister, Eskom is a crime scene.
The police recently informed Parliament’s finance watchdog, the standing committee on public accounts, that multiple syndicates were working at Eskom’s power stations.
Ramokgopa stated that an Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee was formed to address Eskom-related crimes.
This is the task that the security cluster is involved in, meanwhile, despite the 126 arrests from the previous year, there have been over 1,952 cases registered over this time period.
“An Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee was established to address Eskom-related crime on an inter-departmental, multi-disciplinary basis to address the objectives of Work Stream Six of the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom).
“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,” Ramokgopa said in 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.”
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Ramokgopa also stated at a press conference on Friday that a senior officer from the police and the State Security Agency was investigating crimes committed at Eskom.
They may address the topic of the senior executive at Eskom who has been implicated in power station sabotage with syndicates. Ramokgopa stated that there has been improvement in this area.
