Despite this the people at Eskom continues to deny that there is anything wrong. A similar silo with a crack collapsed on 1 November, an event used by Eskom as an excuse for wide-spread power outages in the country during the first two weeks of November.
Trade union Solidarity says in a statement Eskom should stop denying the actual state of its coal storage silos. They have first-hand information that the Majuba power station’s silo 30 has a visible two-metre-long crack. In a recent letter, Solidarity requested the state-owned energy supplier to urgently take the necessary steps to prevent the collapse of the silo. Solidarity also expressed its concern for the safety of Eskom’s employees.
Deon Reyneke, head of Solidarity’s Energy Industry, says Eskom failed to admit any knowledge of structural problems with the now collapsed Majuba silo 20 despite evidence that senior managers knowabout he danger.
“Two days after the silo collapsed, Solidarity issued a statement claiming that Eskom had been aware of abnormal vibrations in the silo for months. Eskom has since repeatedly denied any such knowledge. Moreover, the company failed to reply to a letter from Solidarity, in which the union sought to bring more information relevant to the collapse under Eskom’s attention,” Reyneke said.
Reyneke says Eskom’s refusal to acknowledge its mistakes and to instead pretend that Solidarity’s claims are false, is unacceptable. “We have proceeded to gather evidence of Eskom’s knowledge of the structural problems with silo 20 and Eskom’s failure to conduct proper preventative maintenance. We are concerned that the same route will now be taken with silo 30,” Reyneke warned.
Reyneke added that Eskom was obsessed with the source of Solidarity’s information. “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.
“Solidarity has, however, offered its assistance to curb the malpractices that led to the silo’s structural problems, but has not yet received any feedback from Eskom in this regard,” Reyneke added.
