Eskom has experienced a total of 44 043 electrical infrastructure theft incidents from the 2018-19 financial year to date.
This was revealed by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Jacques Smalle, who asked about the theft of transformers and sabotage of electrical infrastructure between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 financial years.
Gordhan’s response showed that KwaZulu-Natal recorded the most electrical infrastructure theft incidents at 8 598 over the six-year period, followed by the Eastern Cape with 7 129 and Gauteng 7 030.
Limpopo recorded 4 691 incidents, North West 4 522, Mpumalanga 4 433, the Free State 3 345 and the Northern Cape 2 544. The Western Cape recorded the lowest number of theft incidents at 1 751.
Gordhan said there were 232 transformer theft cases reported in the 2022-23 financial year.
Mpumalanga recorded the highest with 85 incidents, followed by Gauteng (75), Limpopo (43), North West (13), and the Free State (6).
There were three each in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, while the Northern Cape recorded one case in the same period.
Eskom incurred R18.9 million in losses due to the theft of transformers in 2022-23.
“A direct loss of R18 953 668.45 was reported relating to theft of transformers,” Gordhan said.
The amount did not cover the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years.
Gordhan also revealed that the total number of failed transformers across the nine provinces due to theft was 1 347 as of February 9.
He said failed transformers were replaced daily, while failures as a result of theft and vandalism also take place frequently.
“The main causes of these transformer failures include overloading, which occurs when customers have tampered with or bypassed their meters, illegal connections which have bypassed the fuses and breakers that are meant to protect the transformer from overloading, as well as theft and vandalism.
“Eskom remains committed to replacing failed transformers soon after tamper fines have been paid by the customers and the replacement criteria have been met,” the minister said.
Gordhan said there were a number of actions being taken to restore and protect the electrical infrastructure.
He said there was collaboration with SAPS, the State Security Agency, and National Prosecuting Authority, national and provincial joint operational and intelligence structures for continued support regarding crime prevention, disruptive operations, intelligence gathering, investigations, arrests and prosecutions.
Gordhan said there was also implementation of technology to inform security designs for substations, powerlines and all Eskom facilities, while Eskom was “continually assessing threats and risks with appropriate plans for high-risk sites”.
He added that there was collaboration with communities to create awareness, and encouraged them to pay for electricity and take ownership.
The power utility was partnering with the private security industry through enabling contracts.
According to Gordhan, there was also strengthening of governance among the private security role-players that conduct business with Eskom, and conducting of risk assessments and identification and classification of high-value assets and high-risk sites.
Cape Times