Government is doing all it can to tackle the scourge of crime at Eskom, acting government spokesperson Michael Currin says.
This comes after at least 25 people were arrested for sabotage, theft and fraud at the ailing state-owned entity.
Crime at Eskom
The nefarious activities against Eskom and the national grid prompted government to deploy soldiers at various power stations in order to protect vital infrastructure to keep the lights on.
South Africa has been battling persistent load shedding for a year with January 2022 the only month without deliberate power cuts.
The state-owned entity Eskom has been struggling to meet electricity demand because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down.
The National Energy Action plan is in “full swing” and security has got a full multidisciplinary team in place to deal with criminal activity at Eskom, acting government spokesperson Michael Currin said, speaking to The Citizen.
“We’ve been ramping up the efforts. Over the period of recent days, we’ve seen a significant number of arrests and we are actually quite confident that we are starting to get into the value chain of crime and corruption.”
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Load shedding
Curren said sabotage, theft, fraud and corruption are part of many factors that have exacerbated the load shedding crisis.
“The president keeps saying that we are dealing with the perfect storm. He’s talking about a whole range of stuff that government and Eskom have to look at that contributes to the load shedding.”
“It would certainly be a significant contributing factor. You can’t say, for example, that if we stop this activity that load shedding will stop tomorrow. It’s all part of a larger mix and a mix that requires a comprehensive energy action plan,” said Currin.
Hope
Curren has urged South Africans to have hope in government’s plan to fix the country’s problems.
“The country has had a lot of problems over the decades and the way South Africans can solve problems is together.”
“I think we are going to see a turnaround and I do believe that one we crack this energy thing properly, I honestly feel we have a lot of opportunities we can look forward to. So, give South Africa, the home you love, the patriotic support that it needs,” Currin said.
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