South Africa’s military forces have been deployed across four of Eskom’s power stations in an effort to stop thievery and vandalism, allowing it to provide power without interruptions. The four stations receiving extra backup are the Camden, Majuba, Tutuka, and Grootvlei power stations.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was confirmed to arrive at each of the four stations on Saturday afternoon, where they are currently still stationed.
“Eskom can confirm that the SANDF is being deployed. Eskom has received deployments at four sites,” said the utility in a statement.
“There has been a concerted effort to collaborate across the security cluster to look at Eskom and root out the rotten eggs,” said Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya. “We have power station managers wearing bulletproof vests at work. Their children are being escorted by security. Their wives are being escorted by security to where they work.” he continued.
“It’s an unhealthy situation, and those are dedicated South Africans committed to helping us come out of this energy crisis.”
Sabotage on a national scale
For years, the power provider has dealt with South African residents breaking into its various power stations and stealing the hardware needed to keep running. This costs Eskom more money and time than is necessary when providing power.
The most recent case of sabotage came from within when a maintenance worker was found to have intentionally removed a rather important bearing oil drain plug. The loss of the plug caused the generating unit’s oil burners to continually trip.
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There has been no word as to whether any of Eskom’s other stations will get the military treatment. A team consisting of Eskom’s own investigators, a police investigation unit, and operators from the state’s own security agency has been formed to look into any suspected forms of sabotage across the country.
For how long the military will continue to guard the power stations, we couldn’t say. Neither could Eskom, or the government for that matter. The forces currently out at the stations will (hopefully) stick around until there’s a noticeable drop in sabotage (and the level of load shedding) around the country.
Source: TechCentral