The power utility highlighted various forms of vandalism, including theft of steel components from pylons, illegal sand mining around pylons, and siphoning oil from transformers. These actions compromise infrastructure stability, disrupt electricity supply, and create safety hazards. Eskom has also observed reckless acts such as throwing metal chains onto power lines, which cause flashovers and trip power lines, endangering lives.

Eskom Group Executive for Distribution Monde Bala emphasized the broader impact of vandalism, stating it leads to prolonged outages that affect homes, businesses, schools, and essential services. “Reliable electricity is essential for daily life—preserving food, heating, lighting, and enabling children to study after dark. Protecting this infrastructure is a shared responsibility,” Bala said.

“Tampering with electrical infrastructure poses serious and potentially fatal risks. When transformers are drained of oil or connected to illegal installations, they can overheat and explode, leading to widespread power outages and, in some cases, loss of life.

“The theft of steel components from pylons compromises the structural stability of power towers, increasing the risk of collapse—particularly after heavy rainfall. This endangers both people and animals, as high-voltage lines carry thousands of volts and can be deadly upon contact.”

Despite the decline in financial losses due to increased collaboration with law enforcement and improved security measures, Eskom continues to face challenges. In a recent operation, six suspects were arrested on 6 April with stolen property (smart meters, copper and other items belonging to Eskom) worth R1.5 million. The suspects have appeared in court.

“Although Eskom has seen a reduction in these crimes due to increased collaboration with law enforcement agencies and improved security measures, the problem persists and remains unacceptable,” the power utility said.

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This after the power utility and law enforcement executed several arrests related to theft and corruption over the past few months.

“The ongoing efforts have resulted in a series of arrests, with the financial impact of these crimes totalling R1.09 million.

“To date, R873,000 has been recovered and sentencing has been executed. These arrests highlight the ongoing fight against internal and external criminal activities affecting Eskom’s operations,” the power utility said.

Some of the arrests made include that of an Eskom employee and his brother for theft, an Eskom official and security contractor for diesel theft and a weighbridge operator involved in fraudulent fuel transactions.

“An Eskom supplier and his brother in eMalahleni and Middelburg were arrested…for the theft of 16 dome valves valued at R173 000 from Tutuka Power Station. The arrests follow extensive internal and external investigations dating back to 2023.

“In a separate incident, an Eskom employee and a contracted Security Officer were arrested for diesel theft at Kriel Power Station in Mpumalanga. Eskom’s Group Security and Investigation team apprehended the suspects after observing suspicious activity.

“The investigation resulted in the seizure of…fuel trucks, which are now part of the inquiry and the arrest of the Eskom Weighbridge Operator, and the contracted Security Officer charged for theft of diesel worth over R700 000.”

Furthermore, an official has also appeared in court to face charges of corruption.

“On Thursday, 21 November 2024, the Hendrina Magistrate’s Court granted a R50 000 bail to Nonhlanhla Nhlabathi, an Eskom employee accused of corruption at Arnot Power Station in Mpumalanga. Her case has been remanded to 12 March 2025 for trial at the Middleburg Regional Court.

“While employed at Arnot Power Station, Nhlabathi allegedly extorted R220 000…from two individuals, falsely promising them a tender to supply toilets, stationery, uniforms, and baton sticks.

“Nhlabathi was formally charged by the South African Police Services (SAPS) Organised Crime – Eskom Deployment Investigation Team on 4 November 2024 and has since been dismissed following an internal disciplinary process,” Eskom said.

Last month, another suspect was sentenced to five years imprisonment after being convicted of theft of critical infrastructure at the Matimba Power Station in Limpopo.

Eskom assured South Africans that it is committed to “eradicating crime and corruption” within the power utility.

“While most of our employees are honest and dedicated, a small minority engages in criminal activities and must be identified and dealt with decisively. Eskom remains steadfast in its commitment to eradicating criminal activities within its operations.

“To strengthen governance and combat corruption, [Eskom] has restructured its forensic, security, and investigative functions under the newly established Group Investigations and Security Division, which now reports directly to the Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane.

“Through collaboration with the NATJOINTS Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee, Eskom ensures that crime and corruption incidents are swiftly and effectively addressed, safeguarding its assets, and maintaining stakeholder trust. The conviction in the Matimba Power Station case sends a strong message that acts of crime targeting critical infrastructure will not be tolerated,” Eskom concluded.

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The energy utility described a “rising wave” of attacks against its employees in that province and warned that rising violence is compromising its ability to service those areas.

“Despite an initial decline earlier in the financial year, these attacks have surged since October 2024, posing significant risks to both personnel and service delivery operations, particularly in the Eastern Cape

“Eskom is committed to enhancing security measures but will cease operations in areas where employee safety is compromised. Protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring the well-being of its employees is an urgent priority,” Eskom said.

The energy company revealed that at least 14 armed robberies and five car hijackings had been perpetrated against its employees since the beginning of the 2024/25 financial year.

“One of the most alarming incidents occurred on 4 January 2025 along the N2 at Tsolo Junction, where an Eskom employee was shot and robbed of personal belongings during a car hijacking. Electrification sites and commuting employees remain particularly vulnerable, with most attacks concentrated in Mbodlana Village, uMthatha, Port St Johns, and Tsolo.

“Criminals are employing extreme violence, using firearms, hijacking company and personal vehicles, coercing employees into transferring cash, and even restraining them. These threats place Eskom personnel at severe risk of injury or loss of life while carrying out essential duties,” Eskom said.

The power utility said continued attacks “extend beyond individual safety concerns”.

“They contribute to the deterioration of public infrastructure, jeopardise energy security, disrupt electricity supply, result in financial losses, and create an unsafe work environment.

“Eskom strongly condemns these violent acts and continues to work diligently with NATJOINTS to curb the crisis. However, should the situation persist, Eskom may be forced to withdraw its technicians from high-risk areas.

“This would inevitably lead to prolonged power outages and service disruptions, negatively affecting communities and businesses. The safety of Eskom employees is non-negotiable,” Eskom said.

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The accused have been charged and detained at Ermelo Police Station after their initial arrested on Friday, 10 August 2024, at midnight. This follows the arrest of two Eskom weighbridge operators, apprehended for their alleged role in an attempt to steal heavy fuel oil and defraud the company.

Eskom’s Acting General Manager for Security, Botse Sikhwitshi said “the investigation began during a routine quality inspection of coal deliveries at Camden Power Station, conducted by Eskom’s Security Investigation team.

“A suspicious truck attempting to leave the station was intercepted, and the driver was asked to park on the side of the road. Upon presenting a weighbridge slip, the driver claimed that 30 610 kilograms of heavy fuel oil had been offloaded at Camden Power Station.”

After an inspection, authorities discovered the truck was still fully loaded with the fuel oil. The driver then fled the scene, which triggered further investigation, which resulted in the arrests.

After additional investigations on 16 August 2024, two more Eskom employees were apprehended, a weighbridge operator and a control room operator. Arrested alongside the pair was a security guard, hired as a contractor. The accused remain in custody, with their case remanded to 27 August 2024 for a formal bail application.

“The ongoing collaboration between Eskom’s internal security investigations team and law enforcement agencies, coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee’s (NECOM) Safety and Security Priority Committee, is yielding positive results in our efforts to combat crime and corruption,” said Sikhwitshi.

Sikhwitshi called the recent arrests “a positive step” in Eskom’s ongoing effort to eliminate criminal activities, saying the arrests reaffirm “Eskom’s zero-tolerance approach to crime and corruption.”

Eskom urges the public to report any unlawful activities, such as fraud, illegal electricity sales, theft of coal, fuel oil, and diesel, and crimes targeting critical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a recent collaboration between Eskom and various law enforcement agencies removed over 35 illegally connected transformers in Gauteng’s Diepsloot Extension 6.

The joint operation is part of the ongoing efforts by Eskom to reclaim network assets, and alleviate the grid burden caused by unauthorised and illegal electricity connections.

The 2022/23 financial year saw Eskom suffer non-technical losses amounting to approximately R5 billion, due mostly to illegal connections, meter bypasses, and electricity-related criminal activities.

Illegal transformers connections do not only destabilise Eskom’s network, but are the cause of “frequent supply interruptions, extended outages and substandard service for paying customers.” This further poses significant safety risks to technicians responsible for maintenance of the system.

Eskom’s Group Executive for Distribution, Monde Bala, expressed his deep gratitude for the collaboration with the South African Police Service (SAPS), Joburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), Red Ants, Eskom Protective Services, and the private security companies involved in the successful operation.

“These efforts are crucial in safeguarding Eskom’s assets, ensuring public safety, and mitigating the severe energy losses caused by illegal connections, meter bypasses, and acts of theft and vandalism,” Bala added.

He further added that Eskom is “currently investigating allegations from community leaders that some Eskom employees are allegedly involved in the sale of illegal transformers. We will update community leaders on the outcomes of these investigations once they are concluded.”

Members of the public are encouraged to report illegal connections, meter bypasses, and any suspicious activities to the Eskom Crime Line at 0800 11 27 22 or via WhatsApp at 081 333 3323.

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This after a coal loaded truck was spotted by the Eskom Group Security Investigation’s tactical team entering a coal yard in Middelburg.

The coal was due to be delivered to the power station.

“The truck left the coal yard after about an hour and the members followed it as it then drove to Arnot Power Station. On arrival at Arnot Power Station, the truck joined the queue to offload coal.

“The Eskom Group Security Investigations team checked and discovered that the coal due to be offloaded was indeed discarded coal containing stones, which confirmed the suspected coal swapping witnessed earlier at the Middleburg coal yard,” Eskom said in a statement.

According to the power utility, the truck driver was questioned and admitted to selling the coal for some R6 000.

Eskom Acting General Manager for Security, Botse Sikhwitshi, praised the team for its work.

“We commend the Group Security Investigations and the Middelburg Hawks team for working tirelessly together in bringing coal thieves to book. There is tangible evidence to ensure successful prosecution of the suspect.

“The delivery of poor quality coal often leads to unit breakdowns and cannot be tolerated. We hope the perpetrator, once convicted, faces the harshest possible sentence, which shall serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

Last week, Eskom said that a man accused of tampering with critical Eskom infrastructure was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is one of two who were arrested in February 2022 on suspicion of stealing copper bars and installed copper at a Matla substation.

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South Africa’s vast investment into electricity infrastructure over generations is being systematically stolen, smelted down into ingots and billets, and then exported with impunity by many scrap metal dealers who continue to turn a blind eye to the origin of what they buy.

That’s the view of the Copper Development Agency: Africa (CDAA), a stakeholder in planning counter-strategies with the SA Government for years on the illicit copper economy, as well as monitoring both official action and inaction on the issue.

Copper expert and CDAA acting chair Evert Swanepoel estimates the damage to the SA economy as being worth at least R8 billion per annum.

“There really is a copper crisis and catastrophe in full swing in South Africa at the moment and our members cannot even buy copper in the country – it must be imported at incredible cost – and that whilst tonnes of stolen copper is smelted and exported under the noses of the government, police, port authorities and the SA Revenue Service (SARS).”

“The worst is that the stolen copper export boom – as beneficial as it is to the scrap metal industry at present – is fuelling theft and infrastructure degradation at a catastrophic rate from municipalities and utilities throughout SA.”

Swanepoel said copper cables are in demand because they are already 99% pure copper and thus far easier to smelt down and turn into ingots for export at minimum cost whilst maximising profits for some scrap dealers.

He added that whilst SA seems to be on the cusp of solving the load shedding crisis, de facto black-outs would still plague many at municipal level due to the increase theft of copper cables and transformers at grass-roots level.

“What we could likely find after a mammoth institutional effort to get Eskom working again, is that electricity distribution challenges brought about by cable and transformer theft will be magnified to cause widespread de facto load shedding instead,” warned Swanepoel.

Damage to the electricity supply caused by thieves stealing copper cables has not only increased the
costs incurred by national and municipal power utilities, but has also placed an additional burden on
businesses, residents and service providers already grappling with scheduled rolling blackouts, known
locally as load shedding

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC)

Government strategies have been counter-productive and have not addressed core issues such as scrap cash sales which drive copper theft, and taxing copper exports.

A scrap metal export ban aimed at reducing both copper theft from SA’s crumbling infrastructure and the export of stolen copper was not successful and was not renewed at the beginning of 2024.

Yet the unrelenting lava flow of the illicit red metal out of South Africa  – Africa’s most developed economy – happens without government even attempting to tax the metal tsunami leaving the country, said Swanepoel.

With copper prices on the international market ranging from anything between USD10 000 and $11 000 per tonne, many scrap metal dealers in SA are now cashing in.

Swanepoel last year predicted that the SA government’s ban throughout 2023 on scrap metal exports would come to naught and would only damage the economy and the legitimate copper business.

He pulls no punches as he directly accuses government of “turning a blind eye” to the worsening situation.

“In South Africa we still see government not enacting the necessary regulations as it promised to curb widespread copper theft and export.”

“Now we are stuck with the situation where many in the scrap metal sector make an absolute killing exporting stolen copper which the SA government refuses to stop or is unable to prevent and does not even tax,” said an exasperated Swanepoel.

At the very least, Swanepoel adds, the SA government should take steps to test copper billets for purity before allowing export.

Six months ago, in its report on SA’s illicit copper economic, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) said every day, criminal elements strip copper from wherever they can find it, including roads, homes, construction sites and mines.

“The theft of copper from already ailing infrastructure severely affects the capacity and operations of state-owned entities and municipalities”

GI-TOC said the country’s critical infrastructure was “at a tipping point after years of chronic mismanagement and rampant theft”, and identified copper theft as a contributing factor.

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A year on, ProtectionWeb interviewed Fivaz on the unprecedented intervention, which shook government, rudely awakening a country and slumbering intelligence agencies in full denial of the pivotal role of business intelligence operations.

But Fivaz believes the tide has not yet turned against corruption at South Africa’s SOEs, mainly because official security agencies fail to utilise extensive private intelligence capabilities.

“Andre de Ruyter looked at me and said – this could be the last chance to save Eskom and South Africa – do it!”

These words in December 2021 triggered a unique private intelligence operation – initially ignoring state law enforcement and intelligence agencies, yet ultimately providing proof-of-concept for business-driven private intelligence.

Fivaz and his George Fivaz Forensic & Risk outfit launched the operation against four major crime cartels – penetrating criminal leadership, identifying operational black sites and ultimately disrupting by mobilising National Defence Force and private security resources.

The stakes could not have been higher, with a paralysed Eskom in danger of a criminal take-over – taking South Africa with it whilst official agencies dithered.

De Ruyter was also personally targeted by cartel hit-squad surveillance and a poisoning attempt well into the project.

Fivaz put the ultra-secret private intelligence operation into motion after accessing funding from Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and other businesses.

“It had a liberating effect on Eskom top management  – and ultimately freed them from direct cartel intimidation and even control – it restored freedom of action and gave a fighting chance,” Fivaz told ProtectionWeb.

He added that criminal cartels operated with complete impunity with a hit-squad to take out internal critics standing in the way of wholesale plundering at the utility.

“The situation remains grave at Eskom in my view as with almost all other SOEs, but our operation gave Eskom management space to launch a fight-back – which our current Minister of Electricity is fully exploiting to keep the lights on,” said Fivaz.

The first National Commissioner of SAPS, appointed by President Nelson Mandela, Fivaz played a central role – long since forgotten by formal agencies – in crushing an upsurge in post 1994 Cash in Transit robberies and establishing Business Against Crime (BAC).

He rejects that only government can conduct intelligence operations against crime, citing not only Eskom but highly successful business/police intelligence operations whilst SAPS chief (1995-2000).

“The Eskom project was a huge leap in the right direction, even though state security agencies still believe crime information or intelligence is their sole prerogative. But South African crime statistics speak volumes with low crime detection and prosecution rates.”

“The sooner formal security structures realise that private intelligence can vastly improve their performance for the better,” maintained Fivaz.

He said the Eskom project proved that private intelligence and state entities could work together even on complex issues of vital national security.

“A positive yes! BAC developments with Neal Froneman now as chair is motivation for my opinion but it remains an effort to obtain the support of the private sector to fight crime more effectively even though using private intelligence to fight crime is not new.”

“State intelligence services are still not as effective as they should be and along with mistrust of government and formal state agencies the result is people in general are not at liberty to share info with state structures,” said Fivaz.

And that, Fivaz said, is one of the main reasons why private intelligence operations by the business sector can fill the gap and make a decisive contribution to South Africa.

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