President Cyril Ramaphosa has established a multi-disciplinary task force to investigate claims of sabotage at Eskom that led to this month’s unprecedented Stage 6 load shedding.
Presidency spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said SAPS and the State Security Agency (SSA) will work together on the investigation.
Police on Tuesday confirmed that a task force was investigating the allegations of sabotage, tampering, damaging or destroying of electrical network infrastructure at Eskom.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Reconciliation Day event, where Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address in Bergville on Monday, Diko said Eskom had opened a criminal case at the Standerton Police Station in Mpumalanga, reports The
Mercury.
“The president directed that the allegations made by Eskom be investigated. Any further developments will be communicated by Police Minister Bheki Cele’s team,” she said.
Eskom has assured South Africans they could prepare their Christmas feasts without worry as it announced that the probability of load shedding was low for that period.
The parastatal said the technical teams would continue to work throughout the festive season.
“Eskom will continue to use emergency reserves to supplement capacity if necessary over this period,” the power utility said.
Consumers were warned to reduce consumption to help decrease load shedding.
Meanwhile, Deputy President David Mabuza would convene a resuscitated energy war room comprising of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
However, DA Public Enterprises spokesperson, Ghaleb Cachalia, said this was not enough and said the four ministers were “the same quartet that has delivered the utility and the country to this parlous place”.