More army deployments are being prepared at Eskom power plants.
The army will be deployed to several Eskom power plants to combat the “growing threat of sabotage and theft”.
“Eskom can confirm that the SANDF (South African National Defense Force) is deploying,” Eskom confirmed in a message on Saturday, adding that it “has received deployments to 4 sites this afternoon.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said a minimum of 10 soldiers would be deployed in the initial phase at each station.
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More implementations are in the works.
The move was “in response to the growing threat of sabotage, theft, vandalism and corruption” at coal and diesel power generating plants, it said.
Brigadier Andries Mahapa said: “We cannot reveal the areas [as] yet, but there are power plants that are being identified by the intelligence report.”
A full report of the areas where the army will be deployed will be published on Sunday, Mahapa added.
Cargo shedding crisis
South Africa has been hit by worse episodes of cargo loss this year, with Stage 7 now within reach. Eskom has repeatedly said that the dire state of its aging coal fleet means breakdowns will increase and maintenance cannot be postponed.
Earlier this week, Eskom Chief Executive André de Ruyter announced his resignation, citing crime and corruption as the main obstacles he faced in trying to turn around the troubled state entity.
De Ruyter’s resignation followed a series of public attacks by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe.
He said last week that Eskom was “actively agitating for the overthrow of the state.”
Neither Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan nor President Cyril Ramaphosa defended De Ruyter or Eskom.
– additional information from AFP
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