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Kusile headache has nothing to do with 'so-called corruption', says electricity minister

Minister of electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
Minister of electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
Image: Freddy Mavunda

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Eskom’s problems at Kusile are technical and have nothing to do with corruption. 

Ramokgopa this week visited Eskom's power stations to assess their state.

Speaking during a visit to Kusile power station in Mpumalanga, Ramokgopa said his ultimate aim was to end load-shedding.

He said the embattled power utility's problems at the station had “nothing to do with so-called corruption”.

“The problems and challenges that we have had here are technical problems, they have nothing to do with so-called corruption. I am going to meet with labour [and] I am sure they will raise other issues.

“The issues that have been raised with me regarding the units that have gone out as a result of the structural integrity of the chimney and design components have nothing to do with corruption,” said Ramokgopa. 

“[This has] everything to do with technical designs. There are significant modifications that they are making and I am happy with the modifications they are proposing.”

In 2021, the Sunday Times reported on corruption in the construction of Kusile. Documents showed how senior Eskom officials received a slew of apparent kickbacks — including fees paid to a top Pretoria private school. 

An email conversation appeared to show how Eskom's former senior capital contracts manager France Hlakudi and Dianah Motlou, who was in charge of contracts at Kusile, colluded with contractors who received billions of rand in tenders from the power utility.

Eskom suspended load-shedding from Friday until Wednesday morning citing an improvement in generation capacity. Stage 2 load-shedding was implemented until 4pm and stage 3 until 5am on Thursday.

Ramokgopa said he was not anticipating load-shedding to be pushed to higher stages and “evidence” before him showed “significant improvement”. 

“If we don't get an extremely cold winter and continue to see the kind of improvement we are seeing [then], no, I don't think that we are going to go to higher stages of load-shedding, beyond than what we have been experiencing.”

During a visit to Duvha Power Station in the province, Ramokgopa denied the EFF's “national shutdown” protest had anything to do with load-shedding being suspended this week. 

“It has nothing to do with the EFF. It [was] a one-off protest. We will continue for the next seven days uninterrupted going to these power stations and trying to understand the scale of the problem.

“To get to a stage where people find it very strange to have electricity for a day or two days in succession emphasises or underscores the gravity of the [energy crisis] problem.

“Our interventions on resolving load-shedding don't start with the minister of electricity. The energy action plan has been there, all that we are doing is accelerating it and of course, we can see that six power stations are beginning to pick [up and] the energy availability factor is going up”.

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