ALLEGED WhatsApp chats between an Eskom employee and a Soweto ward councillor working together to vandalise transformers to make some cash have emerged on social media.
Social media users even alleged that Eskom technicians are working under the command of their manager who has been vandalising transformers to extort money from Dobsonville and Protea Glen residents.
Residents have allegedly threatened Eskom employees working in the area.
“Residents have no electricity. They refuse to fix transformers and told residents that they will fix them after three months,” said a resident.
However, Protea Glen extension 16 Ward Councillor Phelelani Sindani responded to the allegations, saying: “I've noted with concern the message that says transformers are deliberately targeted for financial gain. Sadly, they're saying the councillor will make certain forms look legit. They are also saying they will do like they did at Base5 and Ext 11.
"Please note, Base5 is in Ward 53, which has a different councillor. For the record, I have no knowledge of the message nor have an idea of what they are talking about."
He said that he will personally send the message to Eskom for further investigation.
Eskom spokeswoman Amanda Qithi said the power utility will not stop until it gets to the root of these allegations.
“The power utility has condemned threats made against its employees who work in the area and are conducting disconnections according to the power utility’s processes. Until allegations levelled against these employees are proven true, we urge communities to treat our employees as innocent. Threatening someone’s life is a serious criminal offence which Eskom is not taking lightly,” she said.
Qithi said the procedural disconnection of the network in the affected parts of Dobsonville is due to low purchases of electricity, resulting in high revenue and energy losses in the area.
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“This process is implemented across Gauteng to prevent equipment failure and revenue loss in areas where there's a risk of electricity infrastructure exploding or failing because of illegal activities such as tampering, bypassing of meters and illegal connections which lead to network overloading,” she said.
She further said that the mini substations which were switched off in Dobsonville were subsequently vandalised and to repair the vandalised electricity infrastructure, a 60% threshold of affected customers need to pay a minimum deposit of R500 towards the total remedial fee of R6 052 for illegal connections, meter bypassing and tampering, as well as purchasing of electricity tokens from illegal vendors.
