In the past few weeks, Eskom has announced several major crime-fighting successes and emphasised its collaboration with law enforcement in addressing historical corruption and misconduct at the power utility.
Eskom has suffered billions of rand in losses due to a wide variety of crimes over many years, ranging from theft and sabotage to tender and procurement corruption.
On multiple occasions, the power utility has stressed that most of its roughly 40,000 employees were honest and dedicated. Only a small minority engaged in criminal activities and must be identified and dealt with decisively, it said.
The power utility has been collaborating with law enforcement officers in the Energy Safety and Security Prority Committee of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) to combat corruption and theft within its operations.
Most recently, the power utility announced that six people were arrested for their involvement in a fraudulent procurement scheme at Kusile Power Station, one of the hotbeds for incidents of corruption.
The arrests included a former Kusile procurement officer and procurement manager and followed a coordinated intelligence-driven operation.
The investigation found that a pump was unlawfully procured for R857,977 in 2018 after an identical pump with the same serial number was bought for just R18,835 in 2015.
Not accounting for price changes over those three years, the price tag on the new pump was inflated by 4,455%.
Eskom said the fraudulent transaction led to a direct financial loss for the power utility.
Earlier in March, Eskom also announced a flurry of arrests and provided updates on court cases against people involved in crimes against the power utility with a financial impact of R1.09 million.
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