Eskom suspends head of security fingered in R500m contract

Eskom has suspended its head of security Karen Pillay amid an investigation into a R500 million contract awarded to private company Fidelity Services to investigate coal theft in 2022.

Pillay has been placed on precautionary suspension to allow for the investigation to continue unhindered.

ESKOM SUSPENDS KAREN PILLAY

Recently Eskom said there is nothing untoward regarding the contract. The power utility said the Fidelity Services contract was in line with its Procurement Procedure and the National Treasury directives for emergency procurement of services.

The power utility said the placement of the security contract was necessitated by information received by management indicating that there was a potential serious security risk to Eskom’s operations and assets.

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The contract was reportedly established from the period July 2022 to September 2022 with an estimated budget of R500 million. It was placed under emergency procurement to avert potential threats and to safeguard critical sites at Eskom. The scope of the contract mainly focused on the critical power stations, strategic corporate sites as well the Transmission network.

“Prior to placement of the contract, Eskom assessed the quotation from the supplier in responding to Eskom’s request and was satisfied on proceeding with their offering including the prices quoted. Operationally, across Eskom sites there was daily and monthly monitoring of activities and the payment of the invoices over the three months were in line with the contracted services. A total of approximately R250 million including VAT was spent for the duration of the contract,” the power utility said.

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