Eskom’s mishandling of a repair contract led to the closure of its Camden power plant that worsened power cuts by South Africa’s near monopoly electricity provided, the company said. In its explanation of the shutdown, Eskom said the initial 635 million rand contract expired in 2018 amid questions about conflicts of interest and environment regulations. with the work delayed. Eskom shut the 1600 megawatt facility in April, saying the dam where it stores ash from burning coal was at risk of bursting. Eskom this month decrease the electricity supplied to South Africa by between 1000 megawatts and 2000 megawatts for a week. Load shedding have hindered economic growth since 2008. ” Load shedding is primarily as a result of high levels of unavailability of generation stations, including Camden” Eskom said in a response to questions.
Eskom which has debt of about 454 billion rand is entangle in corruption allegations, many of them related to contracts for the maintenance and construction of power plants. Numerous allegations have been aired at a state commission of inquiry. The first contract to build an ash-handling plant and dam at the site was initially awarded to Rula bulk Materials handling in 2016. But that raised the conflict of interest issue.
Danie Odendaal, an Eskom general manager, was found in an internal probe to have signed off on a technical review used in the tender won by Rula, where his brother Roelf is a shareholder and managing director, a person familiar with the findings said. Danie Odendaal had declared a conflict and should not have participated in the decision.
Danie Odendaal remains suspended and will be going through a disciplinary process says Eskom and the details are matters between employer and employee.