Employees at Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, have allegedly hired assassins to silence individuals exposing corruption within the organization.
One such case involves Dorothy Mmushi, an employee in Eskom’s forensics department, who reported a criminal syndicate operating within the organization.
Solar panel theft is on the rise in South Africa as the rapid adoption of solar power systems has led to a growing trend of theft of components. This has created a thriving black market for entire solar panels and their scrap parts.
An Eskom senior shift supervisor at the Matla Power Station and a heavy fuel oil tanker driver were arrested for fraud and theft.
An investigation found that the tanker drivers were offloading fuel oil at unknown locations before arriving at the power station. They would then enter the power station empty, but fake weighbridge slips were registered, making it appear as if the ordered oil was offloaded.
City Power, the municipal power utility in Johannesburg, has reported improvements in its operations and reduced out-of-service substations due to lower load-shedding intensity in recent months.
Eskom Holdings, the South African state-owned utility, has cancelled coal-supply agreements and construction contracts worth R11 billion as part of a crackdown on corruption.