Several mineworkers who were trapped underground after power lines collapsed following theft and vandalism at Sibanye Gold mine on Monday have been rescued, Eskom said on Wednesday.
Eskom said a team was dispatched to promptly restore supply to the mine, where the mineworkers were unable to resurface due to supply interruption.
According to Eskom, pylon structures were weakened by the theft of tower members and the unstable ground caused by digging around the foundation.
“Production in the gold-extracting mine came to a grinding halt while Eskom worked hard to restore supply at significantly high costs,” said the power utility.
It added that the theft of tower members often leads to instability and collapse of pylons that carry high-voltage lines, which then pose a serious safety risk to the public.
“This criminal practice has an additionally devastating impact on the economy and on Eskom’s ability to sustain the provision of electricity. The power utility spends a fortune on the replacement of stolen pylon parts and other network equipment.”
Eskom added that supply was restored to Cooke shaft 1/Cooke and Panvlakte/Cooke, and Eskom technicians are still on site working around the clock to energise Cooke shaft 3/Kagiso.
Mashangu Xivambu, maintenance and operations senior manager for Eskom in Gauteng, said: “We recently reported that vandalism and theft have extended to include pylons, whose tower members are often stolen by unscrupulous criminal elements, resulting in the steel structures collapsing.
“It is disturbing that this incident happens a week after we raised concern about incidents of theft and vandalism of pylons.”
Xivambu appealed to the public to partner with Eskom and report illegal connections, theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure to the power utility’s crime line.
