Independent News reports that according to the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), there were no likely industrial actions that would force them to involve the police and intelligence officers to protect Eskom facilities.  

DPE spokesperson, Adrian Lackay was reacting to a Sunday newspaper report which stated that the law enforcement agencies’ primary duty was to “detect any malicious attacks” on Eskom, possibly by trade unions.  He said that as far as the DPE was aware, “no requests have been made to the police or military to protect power stations, as no industrial actions have been instituted, nor have public protests been called for at this stage.”  According to Lackay, the only reference to the ministries of police and state security was their inclusion on the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Eskom announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.  A leading expert in the energy sector, Ted Blom, also cast doubt on labour unions violently attacking Eskom facilities in their bid to stop its unbundling.  “The government is worried.  The situation is volatile.  It is good they doubled up security,” Blom said, but he added that labour unions were unlikely to engage in sabotage.  National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim denied that his union planned to sabotage Eskom.

• Read the original of Baldwin Ndaba’s report on this story in full at Independent News

See too, Police, spooks and engineers roped in to save Eskom as sabotage fears mount, at TimesLIVE

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