Task team set up to investigate crimes at Eskom, says police commissioner
09 July 2022 - 13:14
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National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola. Picture: FREDDY MAVUNDA
The police have established a multidisciplinary task team to investigate crimes committed at Eskom.
This was revealed by national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, who added that special task teams that will investigate critical infrastructure crimes have been launched in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
He was speaking during a media briefing by the justice, crime prevention and security cluster (JCPS) on prosecutions after the 2021 July unrest.
“For Eskom specifically, we have established a multidisciplinary task team which consists of prosecutors [who are] going to look at all the crimes committed within Eskom.
“We will update South Africans in due course as we move on. The team has various specialists,” he said.
The power utility, which recently plunged the country into darkness by bumping load-shedding up to stage 6, has been plagued by acts of sabotage.
On Thursday Eskom announced stage 4 load-shedding was be implemented on Friday, reducing to lower stages at the weekend. To add to its woes, the electricity utility was also faced with a crippling labour strike over wages which has since been resolved.
Masemola said among other reasons, the task teams have been established to prevent what happened during the July 2021 riots which gripped parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and left more than 300 people dead.
Communities were left in ruins and the civil unrest cost the economy billions after infrastructure like malls was looted and vandalised.
He said: “We were called by the president to establish task teams dealing with critical infrastructure crime and we have established those task teams which are going to culminate into units.”
These permanent units have been tasked to investigate, among other crimes, infrastructure destruction, cable theft, illicit mining activities.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Task team set up to investigate crimes at Eskom, says police commissioner
The police have established a multidisciplinary task team to investigate crimes committed at Eskom.
This was revealed by national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, who added that special task teams that will investigate critical infrastructure crimes have been launched in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
He was speaking during a media briefing by the justice, crime prevention and security cluster (JCPS) on prosecutions after the 2021 July unrest.
“For Eskom specifically, we have established a multidisciplinary task team which consists of prosecutors [who are] going to look at all the crimes committed within Eskom.
“We will update South Africans in due course as we move on. The team has various specialists,” he said.
The power utility, which recently plunged the country into darkness by bumping load-shedding up to stage 6, has been plagued by acts of sabotage.
On Thursday Eskom announced stage 4 load-shedding was be implemented on Friday, reducing to lower stages at the weekend. To add to its woes, the electricity utility was also faced with a crippling labour strike over wages which has since been resolved.
Masemola said among other reasons, the task teams have been established to prevent what happened during the July 2021 riots which gripped parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and left more than 300 people dead.
Communities were left in ruins and the civil unrest cost the economy billions after infrastructure like malls was looted and vandalised.
He said: “We were called by the president to establish task teams dealing with critical infrastructure crime and we have established those task teams which are going to culminate into units.”
These permanent units have been tasked to investigate, among other crimes, infrastructure destruction, cable theft, illicit mining activities.
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