Eskom Seeks Private Sector Help to Protect Grid From Sabotage and Theft

Eskom, which supplies more than 80% of South Africa’s electricity, is sharpening its security to better shield the national grid and key infrastructure from acts of sabotage and theft that risk plunging the country into darkness.

The national power grid is an interconnected network that supplies electricity countrywide and is physically managed by the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), a subsidiary of Eskom.

Not content with reactive security measures, the power utility is looking to infuse an element of investigative capability to clamp down on criminality and has asked private sector players to put forward proposals to provide it with tactical response operations, security business intelligence, investigative services and integrated security systems and technology.

Eskom, which has now managed to keep the lights on for more than 400 consecutive days, is looking to deploy these services at its critical infrastructure sites, including the central grid, regional grids across the country and telecommunications radio sites. The sites include national key points.

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Sabotage at Eskom, orchestrated by criminal cartels, disgruntled employees and unscrupulous maintenance contractors, has plagued South Africa’s power grid for years.

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These deliberate attacks on power stations and transmission lines are executed to force equipment failures, disrupt supply chains and secure lucrative repair or trucking contracts.

Eskom now aims to take the initiative and actively participate in dismantling the criminal syndicates looking to profit from the sabotage and theft of its key infrastructure, which is indispensable in powering Africa’s most industrialised and largest economy.

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It said specific risks include cable theft, equipment sabotage, land invasion and malicious damage to property.

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The service provider must also profile criminal syndicates and unscrupulous scrap metal dealers and extend this to profiling offenders not related to criminal syndicates within communities involved with the theft of network infrastructure.

The security firm that will be awarded the contract must also be able to investigate criminal activities committed by metal merchants, smelters, exporters and metallurgical laboratories relating to the trading, transporting or managing of stolen NTCSA equipment.

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