Eskom’s Kendal coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
Rampant Corruption at Energy Provider Drags Down South Africa
Coal mafias, graft and industrial sabotage are pushing South Africa’s power monopoly closer to collapse
On a late Thursday afternoon last November, in the midst of rolling blackouts implemented by South Africa’s state-owned electricity company, a contractor at a power station in the eastern Mpumalanga province pulled a plug connected to one of the site’s main generation units.
The unit subsequently broke down, ensuring yet another day of nationwide outages.