Public Enterprises Minster Pravin Gordhan claimed the return of loadshedding, in a week where strides were made to improve Eskom’s generation capacity, hints at sabotage.
Is sabotage the cause of loadshedding? – Here’s Gordhan’s take
Speaking at Wednesday’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Gordhan made links between tweets posted by anti-establishment agents to recent breakdowns that, as far as it’s known, can’t be explained by Eskom technicians.
“Why is it that each time we think we’re reaching stability within the system, that we have tweets coming from certain quarters and sooner after the tweets come, then one other part of the plants experiences some kind of disruption?” the minister asked.
While he could not corroborate Gordhan’s with soluble circumstantial evidence, Eskom Group CEO Andre de Ruyter did indicate that, in the past, there have been questionable incidents that required further investigation.
“For example, in the past we have had incidents where water valves were opened, draining of demineralised water, which then takes a significant amount of time for that boiler to be filled again,” he explained.
Power plants to be kept under 24-hour surveillance
The power utility’s executive further elaborated on the latter, hinting at the possibility of dark forces working with anti-establishment figures within their ranks.
To mitigate this, Eskom will install high-tech CCTV cameras at power plants of interest in a bid to curtail the efforts of a few, De Ruyter claims, who still serve the ideals of state capture.
“We are of the view that there are still networks in place which were established during the time of the state capture. They are still active and they are definitely not in place with a view to have the best interest of Eskom at heart,” De Ruyter added.
Gordhan doubled down on his assertions of a sabotage being the reason behind loadshedding and called on Eskom workers to “stop any nefarious activities they may be involved in.”
“This is a message that needs to go to all the Eskoms staff, one the one hand, but also a message to those who still feel aggrieved because they had to leave the opportunities for all sorts of mischievous stuff at Eskom and want to now retaliate in one form or another, or whose egos wouldn’t allow them to move on and leave the job for somebody else to do,” he said.
On Thursday, stage 2 loadshedding was in effect and is expected to run until 05:00 on Saturday 20 November 2021.