Sabotage at Eskom ‘should be elevated to security emergency’

It was the 2005 Koeberg bolt all over again as a “shocked” and “surprised” President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed sabotage at Tutuka power plant which contributed to the stage 6 load shedding on Monday night.

The sabotage cost the system 2,000MW, Ramaphosa said, and noted wet coal had also led to loss of efficiency at some of the boilers.

Based in Mpumalanga, Tutuka consists of six 609MW units with an installed capacity of 3,654MW and approximately 850 employees, according to Eskom.

It was while Ramaphosa was on his way to Egypt when he heard stage 6 load shedding had been implemented, news he was “surprised and shocked” to hear.

Professor Thuli Madonsela asked on Twitter yesterday if the load shedding was an act of industrial sabotage for “nefarious reasons”.

“Who could be the culprits,” Madonsela pondered.

While the system was unreliable and unpredictable, Ramaphosa said, it was of “great concern” there had been a “measure of sabotage during this period which led to the loss of of 2,000MW where someone in the Eskom system disconnected one of the instruments which finally led to two of the boilers tripping”.

Cable theft and collapsed pylons were also being investigated.

Political analyst Daniel Silke said Ramaphosa seemed to show little urgency over the issue.

“This extends the debate about Eskom beyond the technical, management, and policy deficiencies within the organisation to the security realm,” Silke said.

“Given the vulnerability of the electricity grid, the physical security should be elevated to paramount importance, a security emergency.”

Silke said he would have liked Ramaphosa to say he would be meeting with his security cluster urgently to address the issue.

“While there was an admission of the sabotage, there almost seemed to be a lack of urgency in referring to it, which was concerning to me,” Silke said.

Earlier on Twitter, Silke called it an “astounding admission”.

“If true, the security of state installations now is paramount alongside enhanced intelligence,” Silke noted.

“If sabotage becomes legitimized in critical sectors of the state, it’s an economic death-knell to South Africa and its efforts to illicit global investment.”

Ramaphosa said he had directed the sabotage be investigated and wanted security increased.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.