Num details how load-shedding sabotage would've happened
Thursday 12 December 2019 - 4:15pm
National Union of Mineworkers' representatives said the president was incorrectly informed when he said elements of sabotage were involved in Eskom's need for load-shedding. Courtesy of #DStv403
JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa's claims of sabotage at the Tutuka Power Station is being widely questioned.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) believes the president is being misled.
Ramaphosa says sabotage saw Eskom losing 2,000 megawatts leading to stage 6 load-shedding.
"We are very disappointed as the National Union of Mineworkers that the President was misled in relation with the alleged sabotage. There is no such a thing, there's nobody who has sabotaged the boilers, there is nobody who has sabotaged the station," said NUM's Deputy Regional Chairperson Bizzah Motubatse.
"Whatever the president has said yesterday, it is nothing but misinformation that was given to him, hence he ends up misleading the country and we sympathise with the president because he was misled."
READ: What is Stage 6 load-shedding?
Motubatse said for the sabotaged to have happened as claimed by Ramaphosa, three units needed to have been sabotaged.
"The capacity of Tutuka Power Station is 3600 [MW] so if you are about to have 2000 like he [Ramaphosa] is claiming, you will have to have 3 units being sabotaged. Sow when you minus 2000 from 3600 it will give you 1600, meaning that the 2000 will come from the three units that must be sabotaged," added Motubatse.
An employee at the Tutuka told eNCA that there were unaware of the sabotage.
"As an employee of Tutuka Power Station, we are not aware of any sabotage that has been reported by the president and management has never communicated to us any sabotage that is in the station."
- Load-shedding could be avoided -
Motubatse said three power stations were currently being shut down.
READ: Sabotage to blame for power loss: Ramaphosa
"You speak about Hendrina, you speak about Komati, you speak about Grootvlei. If ever those units can be brought to the grid, we will not be having load-shedding."
"Because they want to advance issues of the IPP [Independent Power Producers], in our view as the NUM, it's worse than the state capture. So if they can bring back those units, we will have enough electricity in this country because when those units were shut down, we've got enough electricity, we don't need those units and they were shut down."
"They must just bring back those units and we'll have enough capacity," he said.
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