PRETORIA, South African authorities have made more than 200 arrests this year in connection with embezzlement and sabotage at thermal power plants. This was declared by the President of the Republic, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“A total of 234 people have been arrested since last January following investigations by the energy security council. The value of the confiscated property is approximately R60 million [approximately $13 million],” he said in his weekly address to the nation.
President Ramaphosa further declared that the criminal groups involved in the fraudulent trafficking of coal in thermal power stations had been identified and dismantled.
“High quality coal intended for power plants was sent by small criminal groups under fictitious invoices for export,” revealed the head of state. “Instead, inferior coal was sent to thermal power plants.
This led to accidents and equipment breakdowns. Coal smuggling and other forms of deliberate damage to critical infrastructure are nothing more than economic sabotage, and our government treats them as such,” he explained.
The work of the special investigation team into corruption linked to Eskom continues to bear fruit, according to the South African president. “To date, coal supply contracts worth approximately R3.7 billion ($194 million) have been invalidated by court and contracts for the supply of coal and construction of a value of 10 billion rand ($526 million) was canceled,” he also noted.
Source: Burkina Information Agency