Eskom employee allegedly steals structural cross members of a pylon, sells to scrap metal dealer

An Eskom employee has been arrested for allegedly stealing structural cross members of a pylon at the Eskom Academy of Learning (EAL) and selling them to a scrap metal dealer in Midrand.

According to the power utility, the Eskom security team received a tip-off regarding the sale of the cross members (pylon steel) at the scrap metal dealer.

“The Security team followed up the information and visited the scrap dealer where approximately 40 pieces of cross members were discovered. The manager of the scrap metal dealer confirmed that an Eskom employee brought the cross members for sale and indicated that the employee will return to the scrap metal dealer to collect money in the afternoon,” said Eskom in a statement.

“The security team waited for the employee to return, upon returning he was then arrested for the theft of Eskom property.”

The suspect was taken into custody at the Midrand police station on Thursday.

Over the past few months, the power utility has reported several theft and vandalism incidents involving pylons and their subsequent collapse, which left residents without electricity for days.

“It is quite disappointing to have one of own working against the entire collective and its mandate to provide quality electricity to customers. We condemn such acts of criminality in the strongest terms as they not only affect Eskom, but also impact our customers with unnecessary supply interruptions which can be avoided.

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“We will continue to heighten efforts to curb theft, vandalism of our infrastructure and any criminal acts by anyone, especially our employees who should be our guardians against such infrastructure destruction,” says Kith Maitisa, Eskom SHEQS Manager in Gauteng.

Eskom urged those who may be aware of any form of criminal acts by its employees or anyone else, to anonymously alert the parastatal by calling the Crime Line on 0800 112 722.