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BL Premium reports that according to Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, the high safety risk that Eskom executives faced daily in the line of duty was “definitely not helping” with the retention of high-ranking employees or the recruitment of new personnel.
He said it would be hard to imagine executives at any other company in SA having to suffer the working conditions that the top brass at Eskom had to endure daily. The state-owned power utility is facing numerous operational problems. The situation is exacerbated by incidents of “sabotage” and criminal syndicates operating at its power stations across the country. De Ruyter was quoted last week as saying the issue of sabotage was so serious that “on average there is a stage or two of load-shedding that can be attributed to these criminal activities”. Speaking to Business Day on Monday, he said Eskom believed there was a link between the increase in threats made against its employees and the ramping up of Eskom’s efforts to expose and root out corruption, sabotage and theft, which cost it at least R4bn annually. The situation would be more bearable, he said, if there was more support from the criminal justice system to act against those who did get caught for crimes committed against Eskom and its employees. Citing the recent arrest and subsequent release of an alleged coal thief by the Belfast Magistrate’s Court, De Ruyter said incidents like these made him question the criminal justice system’s commitment in combating crimes against the state. The utility has seen five high-profile resignations this year, and by April next year, long-serving Eskom employee and current COO Jan Oberholzer will reach retirement age.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Denene Erasmus at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page