Eskom CEO André de Ruyter Confirms Sabotage at Lethabo Power Station Which Almost led to Power Crisis

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter confirmed a deliberate act of sabotage near the Lethabo power station in Vereeniging almost led to a power crisis and higher stages of load shedding.

De Ruyter was briefing the media on Friday about the current system challenges facing Eskom.

While three units tripped at the Matimba plant this week, there was also the questionable incident at the Lethabo Station.

De Ruyter said he had difficulty believing this was entirely coincidental.

“We have no hard evidence of sabotage at this point in time but it’s certainly not coincidental that this incident has taken place right now.”

De Ruyter says the sabotage would have led to a loss of coal supply at Lethabo.

Meanwhile, de Ruyter says no power cuts are expected this weekend.

Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding on Wednesday.

The power utility on Thursday said Stage 1 power cuts would continue until 9pm on Friday night.