Nearly a month after the catastrophic failure of the 10 000 t central coal-storage silo at its Majuba power plant, State-owned power utility Eskom could face the collapse of another silo if urgent action is not taken, Solidarity claimed on Thursday.

The Mpumalanga-based Majuba power station’s silo 30 had a visible 2-m-long crack, warned Solidarity head of energy industry Deon Reyneke in a statement.

However, earlier reports had indicated that neither of the other two silos on site would be employed until Eskom was satisfied that they were structurally sound.

Eskom had not responded to a request for comment on the condition of silo 30 at the time of publication; however, the group had warned that it could implement load shedding on Thursday evening as it faced more energy constraints owing to undisclosed technical challenges.

Solidarity held firm in its position that Eskom was aware of the silo's structural faults, with senior-level employees having knowledge of the deterioration since before the collapse of silo 20 on November 1, citing an unidentified Eskom official as its source.

“We are not prepared to subject the source of our information to possible intimidation and victimisation. We can, however, confirm that a senior manager, whose name is known to us, has revealed in an official Eskom meeting that the company has been aware of the structural problems with Majuba’s silo 20 since at least September this year,” Reyneke revealed.