Power utility Eskom has pulled back its punches on legal action against political parties mounting their posters on its infrastructure, including electricity poles, electricity towers, meter boxes and mini sub-stations, as the frenzy for votes towards the elections at the end of the month heats up.
This is after Eskom had warned all political parties against the dangerous practice of placing campaign posters on electrical structures as there had been incidents where people had been electrocuted or shocked when putting up posters.
In response to questions, Eskom’s Media Desk said that although following legal options would be available to Eskom, the problem required much more than a legal process.
The utility said that addressing the issue required all relevant stakeholders, including Eskom, municipalities, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), political parties, communities and authorities to ensure that members of the public and political party volunteers were aware of the risks and educated on the correct ways to put up election posters.
“In the event that there is a need, we will engage with the IEC to take this up with the various parties, and any posters placing a risk will be recommended for removal to mitigate the risk,” Eskom said.
“Our media release was issued in the spirit of a genuine concern for the safety of members of the public. Hence, us referring to the dangers of coming into … proximity with electrical infrastructure.”
Eskom had earlier warned in a statement that only authorised personnel were allowed to climb or work on the electrical structures, pointing to statues of the Electrical Machinery Regulations Act that stated: “No person shall encroach in person or with objects on the minimum safety clearances required in terms of sub-regulation (1) or require or permit any other person to do so except by permission of the supplier or user operating the powerline.”
The power utility said that attaching posters to an electrical structure contravened the Occupational Health and Safety Act and put the lives of employees, members of the public and volunteers at risk.
“As such, Eskom would like to caution electricity is invisible to the naked eye and the risk is that when someone gets close to or touches them, it may result in an inadvertent flash-over or electrical contact,” it said.
“This can cause serious injuries to the person or even be fatal.”
It said public safety was of paramount importance to it and, therefore, requested all to refrain from attaching posters to electrical structures to prevent injury or loss of life.
Eskom has assured that the power infrastructure would be continuously live leading to and after the looming elections as it has kept the lights on uninterrupted for more than a month.
It recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the IEC to keep load shedding to a minimum of Stage 2 during the elections.
Energy expert Matthew Cruise, of Forest Energy, said it was possible for Eskom to pull off the elections without load shedding “because planned maintenance had been curtailed three months before the usual schedule of June and was also conserving its use of Open Cycle Gas Turbines (possibly to burn diesel during the period if it needed to”.
BUSINESS REPORT