An Eskom employee and a service provider, who is an accomplice, made separate appearances before the Hendrina Magistrate Court last week, Eskom said yesterday in a statement.
They were each granted bail of R30 000 after being charged for a crime committed at Hendrina power station the previous year.
Between January, 2023 and April, 2023 the service provider supplied five valve stems to Hendrina power station which were stolen from the same power station warehouse, as a result of working with the Eskom employee.
“An internal investigation revealed that the Eskom employee had misused company resources without authorisation for their own personal gain and also falsified documents as the end-user. The Eskom employee resigned while a disciplinary action was being instituted,” it said.
Eskom said it had suffered a financial loss of R667 500 because of this criminal activity.
Following a thorough investigation, the suspects were charged by the SAPS’s investigation team assigned to Eskom-related crime. The next appearance is in the Middleburg Regional Court on July 29.
Botse Sikhwitshi, the acting general manager for security at Eskom said, “Eskom strongly condemns any fraudulent activity in its business operations and will not tolerate such behaviour.
“Our internal security investigations team will continue collaborating with the SAPS in ensuring that those who enrich themselves at Eskom’s expense are held accountable,” added Sikhwitshi.
Eskom said earlier this year it had experienced a total of 44 043 electrical infrastructure theft incidents from the 2018 to 2019 financial year to date.
BUSINESS REPORT