Two Eskom workers, two foreigners arrested for theft in sting operation.

Eskom has confirmed the arrest of two of its employees who may have been in cahoots with a scrap metal dealership over the theft of aluminium conductors.

Eskom zeroes in on moles
The power utility, barely able to keep the power grid stable, has been on the prowl for moles in its infrastructure. Since President Cyril Ramaphosa pinned the return of load shedding on sabotage, Eskom has led an internal investigation into the conduct of its employees.

Sure enough two employees who were under surveillance were caught preparing to courier a truckload of conductors to a scrapyard in the east side of Johannesburg.

“Our employees were tracked to a scrap metal dealership in the far east side of Johannesburg, waiting in an Eskom truck loaded with aluminium conductor cables estimated at R468 000.00 and intended to be delivered to the scrapyard,” the statement read.

Reacting to the tip-off, local law enforcement was called to initiate a search of the truck and the scrapyard.

“Additional Eskom conductors were found inside the dealership. The police subsequently made arrests,” Senior Manager of Maintenance and Operations in Gauteng, Motlhabane Ramashi, revealed.

The two employees, another foreign national who was complicit in the crime, and the owner of the scrapyard, have been slapped with theft charges and remain in custody.