The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) wants a meeting with the new electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to reveal details of corruption within Eskom.<\/p>\n
Speaking to eNCA<\/a>, Malekutu Motubatse, the union\u2019s highveld regional chairperson, said that NUM members approach the union\u2019s leadership with information about corrupt people and managers in Eskom power stations.<\/p>\n NUM members know who is corrupt and know managers in Eskom who have private business interests.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have names and surnames. We gave comrade Pravin Gordhan the names and surnames of managers that we know are corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n NUM met with Gordhan earlier this year, but they were not given details about any action taken based on the information they provided.<\/p>\n Motubatse said that NUM wants to meet with Ramokgopa in the coming weeks to share their insights into Eskom corruption.<\/p>\n In response to a question asking whether NUM members are also implicated in corruption,\u00a0Motubatse said, \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be specific. It is Eskom employees who have their hands in the cookie jar\u201d.<\/p>\n Motubatse said that corruption in Eskom is the main reason for the poor performance of the utility. \u201cWe are subject to load-shedding as a country because of corrupt activities at Eskom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLoad-shedding can be done tomorrow if a minister will just listen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Corruption crushing Eskom<\/strong><\/p>\n Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter also put significant blame for the trouble experienced by Eskom at the feet of corruption.<\/p>\n In his explosive interview on My Guest Tonight with Annika Larson, de Ruyter made many allegations about the corruption he experienced at Eskom.<\/p>\n Former Eskom generation executive Rhulani Mathebula also said the biggest problem the utility faces and which influences most challenges is fraud and corruption.<\/p>\n The impact of fraud and corruption is felt throughout the company and undermines any effort by the great engineers and other staff at Eskom.<\/p>\n The problems include people stealing coal and diesel, damaging plants to get maintenance contracts, and delivering the wrong spares and equipment.<\/p>\n Because of corruption and fraud, there are significant delays in awarding contracts and \u201cshady service providers\u201d who do very poor work are employed.<\/p>\n \u201cFraud and corruption are the biggest enemies of progress at Eskom. It is the most important issue to fix Eskom to get the maintenance program back on track,\u201d Mathebula said.<\/p>\n Operational challenges are to blame for load-shedding<\/strong><\/p>\n Ramokgopa said operational challenges at power stations are to blame for load-shedding and has downplayed the role of corruption in Eskom\u2019s difficulties.<\/p>\n He dismissed De Ruyter and Mathebula\u2019s warnings, saying\u00a0corruption is not at the heart of Eskom\u2019s operational troubles<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n For instance, he said the challenges at the Kusile power station have \u201cnothing to do with so-called corruption\u201d but are technical.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s 210MW in addition to improvements to the plant performance at Kriel that has nothing to do with corruption,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is 1,000MW you can get from Kendal yesterday that has nothing to do with corruption. It has everything to do with the fact that we can\u2019t remain within the emission limits.\u201d<\/p>\n On his tour of the power stations in the country, he emphasized that he is an engineer who is meeting with other engineers to solve Eskoms problems.<\/p>\n This article was originally published by Daily Investor and has been reproduced with permission. Read the original here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
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