Eskom investigates corruption claims in Dobsonville

The investigation comes after some residents took to social media, claiming that employees are colluding with a ward councillor to switch off and damage electricity infrastructure to demand customers pay for repairs.

Eskom’s Gauteng spokesperson, Amanda Qithi said Eskom is investigating the claims.

"The power utility has condemned threats made against its employees who work in the area and are conducting disconnections according to the power utility’s processes.

“Until allegations levelled against these employees are proven true, we urge communities to treat our employees as innocent. Threatening someone’s life is a serious criminal offence which Eskom is not taking lightly," said Qithi.

She said the procedural disconnection of the network in the affected parts of Dobsonville is due to low purchases of electricity resulting in revenue and energy losses.

"This process is implemented across Gauteng to prevent equipment failure and revenue loss in areas where there is a risk of electricity infrastructure exploding or failing as a result of illegal activities such as tampering, bypassing of meters and illegal connections, which lead to network overloading.

“The mini substations which were switched off in Dobsonville were subsequently vandalised.

“To repair the vandalised electricity infrastructure, a 60% threshold of affected customers need to pay a minimum deposit of R500.00 towards the total remedial fee of R6052.00 for illegal connections, meter bypassing and tampering, as well as purchasing of electricity tokens from illegal vendors," she added.

Qithi assured residents that Eskom does not handle cash at any of its offices, and none of its employees or contractors collects electricity payments from customers.

ALSO READ