Eskom’s Camden power station. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi
AS SOUTH Africa moved to Stage 3 load shedding from 4pm on Wednesday, a contractor who allegedly caused a trip at Eskom’s Camden Power Station was arrested on sabotage charges.
The power utility said it had opened a case of sabotage against the contractor at the Ermelo police station after an internal probe led to the culprit being identified and questioned about the incident.
“The evidence obtained and the confession made by the perpetrator revealed the plug was intentionally removed to cause the trip,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Matshantsha.
He said the suspect was arrested on Tuesday after he was apparently “positively linked” to an incident of sabotage following intensive investigative work by Eskom teams.
“The perpetrator, who is employed by a maintenance company working at the power station, intentionally removed the bearing oil drain plug from the bearing, causing the oil burners to trip repeatedly. This malicious act caused all the oil to drain out from the bearing, thus damaging the bearing, which, in turn, prevented the mills from operating optimally,” said Matshantsha.
Eskom said the incident happened last Thursday as Camden’s Unit 4 tripped after losing all the mills.
Matshantsha said the alleged perpetrator had confessed to intentionally removing the plug, leading to the trip.
Eskom said the sabotage would ensure the company was awarded additional maintenance and repair jobs at the power station.
Advocate Karen Pillay, the general manager for Security at Eskom, said the alleged acts of the perpetrator were disheartening, and some Eskom contractors were unscrupulous and acted with malicious intent.
He said it was sad that they were willing to plunge the country into further load shedding at a time when the electricity grid was severely constrained.
Eskom said on Tuesday that load shedding was likely to persist for at least the next year.
“We have always suspected that some of our maintenance contractors and employees are behind these acts of sabotage. We shall continuously work with the law enforcement agencies to bring these insiders to book and ensure that justice is meted out, but most importantly that those with similar tendencies across Eskom are arrested and removed from the organisation,” said Pillay.
The SAPS has been approached to confirm the arrest.
Meanwhile, Eskom announced Stage 3 load shedding between 4pm and 5am.
Stage 2 load shedding was expected to be implemented from 5am to 4pm on Thursday.
“This cycle will be repeated until further notice,” said Eskom.