Eskom has confirmed the arrest of two of its employees who may have been in cahoots with a scrap metal dealership over the theft of aluminium conductors.

Eskom zeroes in on moles

The power utility, barely able to keep the power grid stable, has been on the prowl for moles in its infrastructure. Since President Cyril Ramaphosa pinned the return of load shedding on sabotage, Eskom has led an internal investigation into the conduct of its employees.

Sure enough, on Wednesday, two employees who were under surveillance were caught preparing to courier a truckload of conductors to a scrapyard in the east side of Johannesburg.

“Our employees were tracked to a scrap metal dealership in the far east [side[ of Johannesburg waiting in an Eskom truck loaded with aluminium conductor [cables] estimated at R468 000 and intended to be delivered to the scrapyard on Wednesday evening, 29 January 2020,” the statement read.

Reacting to the tip-off, local law enforcement was called to initiate a search of the truck and the scrapyard.

“Additional Eskom conductors were found inside the dealership. The police subsequently made arrests,” Senior Manager of Maintenance and Operations in Gauteng, Motlhabane Ramashi, revealed.

The two employees, another foreign national who was complicit in the crime, and the owner of the scrapyard, have been slapped with theft charges and remain in custody.

“Root out the rot from within”

The successful operation has encouraged Eskom to look deeper within its organisation for the syndicate responsible for the theft of its infrastructure.

The power utility warned that these are arrests were a stern warning to those who are deadset on sabotaging operations at Megawatt Park.

“This should send a strong signal to anyone involved in these illegal activities. Just a week ago, another employee was arrested in connection with a similar theft incident. The investigation was informed by our commitment to resource optimisation where we aim to ensure that our material is channelled to its intended purposes,” the power utility wrote.

Eskom announced on Thursday afternoon that stage 2 load shedding will be implemented between 21:00 and 06:00, Friday 31 January.

This emergency resort was, the power utility explained, due to “system constraints and our depleting emergency resources.”