POWER CRISIS
Eskom operator hauled to court after probe into theft of diesel worth R500,000
Eskom’s struggle to keep the lights on is made considerably worse by the theft of diesel fuel. A 40-year-old Atlantis man was allegedly involved in the latest incident of theft at the Ankerlig power station outside Cape Town.
Angelo Cysman, a 40-year-old plant operator at the Ankerlig power station in Atlantis, is accused of stealing diesel worth R500,000. Speaking on condition of anonymity, workers at the plant told Daily Maverick that Cysman’s arrest was merely the tip of the iceberg, and that diesel theft at Ankerlig had been continuing for some time.
Cysman allegedly allowed a vehicle to collect stolen diesel from the site, declared the diesel tanker was empty and that all the fuel had been offloaded, and then allowed the vehicle to leave with the stolen load.
He is charged with theft, but additional charges and more arrests are expected.
Cysman was arrested on 23 December and spent the Christmas weekend behind bars before appearing briefly in the Atlantis Magistrates’ Court on 28 December. He is currently out on R50,000 bail.
According to the power utility, diesel is used for powering the open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT) at Ankerlig and Gourikwa power stations, which have a combined generation capacity of 2,000 MW — equivalent to two stages of load shedding.
The OCGTs are used to make up for a shortfall in generation capacity during outages and breakdowns at Eskom’s coal-fired stations. If OCGTs run efficiently, they enable Eskom to avoid implementing higher stages of load shedding.
According to Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani, Cysman was arrested at home while on suspension.
“Through internal investigations, it was established that the plant operator permitted a vehicle to collect the stolen diesel… he declared the diesel tanker empty and that all diesel had been offloaded, whereas it was not.
“An internal investigation was conducted by Eskom and was then referred to the Hawks… for further probing.”
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Diesel theft is part of a larger national problem that affects Eskom’s ability to keep the lights on.
In November 2022, two security guards were arrested in connection with the theft of diesel worth R145,930 from an Eskom plant. The guards were employed by a security company contracted by Eskom and had been guarding the Port Rex gas turbine station in East London.
Also in November 2022, an Eskom subcontractor was arrested for allegedly tampering with essential infrastructure at the Camden power station in Mpumalanga, News24 reported. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa was quoted in TimesLIVE as saying the incident cost Eskom more than R1-million.
‘Constraints’
Eskom has attributed the rolling blackouts to constraints from its diesel suppliers, which affect the availability of bulk diesel to fuel its gas turbines.
Read more in Daily Maverick: “Found: 50 million litres of diesel for 15 days of relief — but source of funding future supplies remains uncertain”
Business Maverick recently reported that eight months into its current financial year, ending 31 March 2023, Eskom had already exceeded its diesel budget of R12-billion. For this period, it had an initial diesel budget of R6.1-billion, later revised to R11.1-billion. By November, the power utility had spent R12-billion on diesel.
Sabotage, theft, failing infrastructure and the consequences of years of corruption have seen South Africans emerge from a year of the highest number of blackouts to date.
Members of the South African National Defence Force have been deployed in response to the growing threat of sabotage, vandalism and theft at Eskom’s power plants.
Cysman is scheduled to appear in court again on 24 February. DM
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Corruption seems to have taken over South Africa in every sphere
Throw the book, the whole book.
Why is bail granted in cases of sabotage of essential national infrastructure? Is this not akin to a form of terrorism if not even treason?
Good question: this is when witnesses are intimidated and the money is hidden. Sabotage of essential infrastructure is economic terrorism. An organized network is required to dispose of these amounts of diesel: where is the intelligence? Are phone calls being monitored and tracked? Where’s the money?
Ask yourself why ESKOM (ESCON?) does not have the checks and balances inplace to detect this? It’s been using diesel for years. Collusion from the top? Stupidity? Probably both.
Both. Alexkor knows it has a massive diamond theft syndicate operating in the Alexander Bay recovery plant but refuses to reinstate integrity testing no matter how many tipp offs they receive or incidents that occur. If plant operators can steal thousands of litres of diesel they can steal thousands of carats of diamonds but because kickbacks get paid to ANC cronies the looting carries on.
This country is so full of crooks that what we really need is a blank wall and a firing squad. Or the judicial equivalent .
Clearly he could not have done this on his own. Hope someone exposes the rest of the network he functioned in or under whose control he was.