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Eskom, through the Operation Khanyisa campaign, which promotes legal, safe and efficient use of electricity, is intensifying its fight against electricity theft in the business community.

“Contrary to the commonly held belief that electricity theft only takes place in residential areas, this crime is also prevalent in the business community,” said Dileep John who heads the Operation Khanyisa campaign. “In fact, electricity theft is common in both big and small businesses.

“The general perception is that the perpetrators of this crime are individuals in residential areas but this perception is false as businesses are equally guilty of committing it,” John said.

A case in point is Mankweng in the Limpopo Province, where a number of small business owners have been found to be connecting illegally and in some instances even going as far as colluding with certain contractors tasked by Eskom to disconnect transgressors.

In one incident, the owner of a popular pizza franchise appeared in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court after being disconnected by Eskom, yet the business continued to receive power through an illegal connection.  In another incident, a tavern owner was fined and his power disconnected after it emerged that he had been connecting illegally since 2011, aided by an unscrupulous contractor.

“Since the launch of Operation Khanyisa, we have been using law enforcement against perpetrators in all sectors, including business and residential. This has resulted in the arrest of 50 electricity theft suspects and the opening of 26 cases on the court roll. We are now intensifying our focus on the business community and the unscrupulous contractors who, instead of disconnecting transgressors as per their contract with Eskom, have been taking bribes,” John said.

John added that the consequences for the transgressors are disastrous because they face the prospect of real jail time.  “We are working with the Hawks, SAPS and Crime Line to fight this crime, because apart from the obvious loss to Eskom and municipalities, electricity theft leads to prolonged and unplanned power cuts.  Such power cuts have disastrous effects on clinics, schools and compliant customers,” he said.

Members of the community are urged to keep on reporting electricity theft anonymously to Crime Line at 32211 (R1/ SMS). For more information, people can visit: www.operationkhanyisa.co.za

Issued by Eskom