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Law enforcement entities, including the South African Police Service (Saps), are planning an illegal connection “attack” they believe could cut up to two stages of load-shedding as part of a broader operation cracking down on crimes against Eskom, Sunday Times reports.
The publication learnt this from Saps spokesperson Brigadier Ahtlenda Mathe, commenting on a raid of a coal smuggling syndicate led by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Thursday, 12 October 2023.
With various law enforcement agencies, Sars seized about R63 million worth of equipment and multiple trucks across five provinces from people and businesses in a “sophisticated network” suspected of swapping high-grade coal intended for Eskom’s power stations with a low-grade product.
The latter is often mixed with rocks, scrap, or other material that damages power station units, increasing the cost of maintenance and the number of breakdowns, worsening load-shedding.
“The high-grade coal is then exported or sold to willing buyers,” Sars explained.
Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter delved into the issue in his book Truth to Power.
De Ruyter alleged that senior politicians in the ANC — including at least one minister — were involved in the criminal syndicates, while others were aware of them but took little action.
Sars said the suspects and their related entities targeted in the raid possibly defrauded it of over R500 million through various gross tax contraventions, including:
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Non-registration for Income Tax, VAT and/or PAYE
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Failure to submit tax returns
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Under-declaration of income
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Claiming undue VAT refunds
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Making false submissions (Fraud)
Mathe said the Sars-led raid was contrived by the National Joint Operation and Intelligence Committee (Natjoints), working out of a command centre at Eskom’s Megawatt Park headquarters.
“The operation was Sars-driven but included people from Home Affairs, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to form a broad-based attack on the criminals,” Mathe stated.
“This was necessary because if we just approached the problem with the Criminal Procedure Act, our capabilities would have been severely limited.”
Mathe said that 150 police officers were involved in hitting 30 addresses across Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal for the search and seizure activities.
“We raided unregulated coal yards and also visited some mines. The DMRE checked mining permits and if anybody was not compliant they were fined. Home affairs checked the immigration status of all suspects.”
The town of Middelburg in Mpulamanga — previously reported to be the centre of coal mafia activities — was a major target in the operation.
Although no one was arrested, several people were served with preservation orders.
Attack on illegal connections
Mathe said the raid was only the first step in a more comprehensive operation, with the next phase being a “broad attack” on illegal connections.
The focus will be on those responsible for installing the connections and copper cable thieves.
“It is a wide spectrum with anybody from informal settlements, businesses and housing estates being involved. This week’s raids were a message to these people.”
“If we can break this down, we will save two stages of load-shedding. We are hard at work profiling these entities,” Mathe stated.
Mathe added that she expected arrests on this front “soon”.
Illegal electricity connections deprive Eskom of billions in revenue each year and increase strain on grid network elements.
According to Eskom’s senior manager for maintenance and operations, Mashangu Xivambu, illegal connections cost Eskom R22 billion last year in Gauteng alone.
The practice can also cause overloading of transformers and other electrical equipment.
Eskom and other power distribution utilities must then spend more money on infrastructure maintenance.
GroundUp recently reported that the City of Cape Town spent R83 million on repairs to electricity infrastructure vandalised due to illegal connections and theft.
Last week, the metro disconnected hundreds of illegal electricity connections in the Baghdad informal settlement in Philippi in a joint operation with the police.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, Cape Town dismantled over 900 illegal connections, mostly in the southern and northern parts of the city.
Load-shedding has also made it easier for thieves to steal cables and other network infrastructure, providing darkness and making it safer to cut cables that would otherwise be electrified.
Eskom has targeted areas prone to illegal connections with load reduction — cutting off power during certain high-demand periods, on top of implementing regular load-shedding.
The practice is controversial because it punishes paying users living within these areas.
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