Eskom employees engineered load-shedding to sign emergency contracts to benefit coal suppliers to the tune of R14.5 trillion.

This is according to the City Press, which cited a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report – which was handed to former president Jacob Zuma in 2017, but never officially released.

According to the news report, Eskom was behind the “self-created emergency” which partly resulted in the first bout of load-shedding in 2008.

The load-shedding was aimed at signing numerous long-term coal contracts which were handed out without proper tender processes.

The latest report follows a Rand Daily Mail article in 2017 that stated the 2008 blackouts, which cost South Africa around R300 billion, were engineered to benefit favoured companies.

The Rand Daily Mail also cited a 2015 report by law firm Dentons which said senior Eskom executives “benefitted from contracts and had paid up to 200% more than necessary for coal”.

New coal procurement contracts desperately needed

Energy expert Ted Blom, who predicted the current Eskom meltdown in 2013, said the current coal shortages at the power utility are going to last for at least another five years.

Blom said Eskom’s coal problems are self-inflicted and are a result of inaction from Eskom management.

He said he compiled a report with Eskom engineers in 2007 which warned the utility that it needed to intervene to ensure it does not run out of coal.

The Eskom CEO at the time undertook to open 40 new coal mines, but to date not a single one has been opened.

Blom also criticized the way coal procurement is currently done, saying new long-term coal procurement contracts needs to be signed urgently.

At all costs

In more Eskom news, the City Press has quoted the DA as stating that Eskom has been instructed by the ANC to “keep the lights on by any means possible” in the build-up to the national elections on 8 May.

This includes buying diesel “at all costs” to ensure the power stays on in Gauteng and the province is not lost to the DA.

Blom previously said Eskom ran diesel generators flat-out to prevent load-shedding over the Christmas period.

This, Blom said, was to ensure that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s promise of no load-shedding over the festive season was honoured.

Eskom therefore depleted all its diesel reserves, which should be used as a backup in case of emergencies.

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