Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two further suspicious incidents at Eskom power stations on Thursday and Friday, just a day after Eskom confirmed two acts of sabotage at its Tutuka Power Station, have increased fears that an orchestrated sabotage campaign is under way to prevent a halt to load shedding.
In the early hours of Friday, Eskom officials at Hendrina Power Station were unable to start up unit five and upon inspection found that during the night copper bars on the unit’s generator had been removed, and reactor earth bars, had also been removed.
Units two and six suffered the same fate.
‘Sabotage is real in Eskom’ – someone with inside knowledge cut vital cable at Tutuka power station
Officials suspect theft, but it was unclear how any thief would be able to gain access to the Hendrina premises and have enough time to remove the cables and the reactor bars from three units.
In another incident, the incorrect oil was used for unit two at Duvha Power Station, meaning a further delay to returning the 570-megawatt unit to service.
Duvha unit two’s return to service (RTS) date was nearly six months overdue, due to a series of apparent mistakes that kept delaying the completion of work at the power station.
Further mistakes
Other problems that had plagued repairs include valves being installed incorrectly, and further mistakes that had caused repeated delays.
Eskom group chief executive André de Ruyter confirmed the incidents on Friday.
He said:
News24 reported on Thursday that a crucial power cable at Tutuka was cut. The cable was in a cable rack along with several others, which suffered no damage and delayed the power station from returning the station’s unit five to service by several days, as it took time to find the cut cable.
Eskom also revealed in a statement on Thursday that a second incident had occurred at Tutuka, where a section of a control air pipeline was cut with a power tool, and a bend in the pipe removed.
The power utility said:
Eskom said this was the fifth incident of sabotage since March 2021, which had all been reported to police.
News24 reported in November 2021 that steel supports on a pylon near Lethabo Power Station had been cut just before evening peak, and the pylon had been toppled onto a back-up power line adjacent to the pylon – causing the power supply to the power station’s overland conveyor to be cut off for hours, nearly causing an increase in load shedding to stage five.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, speaking during his presentation of the department’s budget vote speech, also referenced the Hendrina incident.
“We need to combat corruption, disruption and indeed sabotage, whether from within state owned enterprises or from counter-revolutionary quarters and criminals outside SOEs. I was informed by the management of Eskom this morning that, yet another incident had taken place at the Hendrina Power Station, where an important cable which is required to start a unit that was undergoing repairs and synchronised with the rest of the system, was cut,” Gordhan said.
Gordhan elaborated, saying that the flexible copper cables and reactor earth bars had been “stolen” by someone “obviously working within” the power station.
The minister said:
“These, among other revelations that have occurred over the past few days, the corruption with the supply of oil, a cable that was cut at another power station – these are all directly related to the load shedding we experience today, over and above other operational issues,” he added.
Eskom was asked to provide further details, and this story will be updated once additional comment is received.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
