BL Premium reports that the SA Police Service (SAPS) has taken several measures to address the crime at Eskom that former CEO André de Ruyter says is crippling the power utility.

In his book Truth to Power, De Ruyter claims that high-quality coal meant for delivery to Eskom power stations is diverted for criminal purposes and replaced with low-quality coal or rocks. Deputy police minister Cassel Mathale reported in his police budget vote speech in the National Assembly on Tuesday that 461 Eskom case dockets had been opened related to illegal and unregulated coal and fuel. Fuel has also been stolen. Mathale also said that the SAPS organised crime unit and the Hawks had jointly reported a total of 120 dockets that were registered, which had resulted in 98 arrests from January this year to date. Mathale did not say what progress had been made in investigating these cases and how many of them had resulted in prosecutions. According to De Ruyter, some members of the police and some magistrates in Mpumalanga – where several Eskom power stations are located – appeared to be working in cahoots with the crime syndicates which were looting billions of rand at Eskom. Mathale advised that the government had implemented the establishment of a SAPS-led priority committee for energy security and a 24-hour mission area joint operational centre at Eskom’s head office at Megawatt Park, as well as planned operations and executed actions.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Read too, Welcome to Eskom, ‘SA’s largest organised crime network’, at The Citizen

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page