Eskom Refutes Reports That Zimbabwe Has Been Stealing Electricity
South Africa’s power utility Eskom has dismissed as fake news, reports claiming that Zimbabwe has had been connecting electricity illegally.
This comes after an article was published on satire website Ihlaya News, reporting that Eskom had just discovered that Zimbabwe had been connecting electricity illegally for years.
In a statement on Thursday, Eskom said:
FAKE NEWS ALERT
Date: 12 December 2019
Issue: “Eskom just discovered that Zimbabwe had been connecting electricity illegally for years”
CLAIM 1: Zimbabwe has been connecting illegally for years.
FACT 1: The article is published on Ihlaya News, a parody and satire website, confirming that “all articles are complete fiction”. Ihlaya translates to ‘joke’ in isiZulu.
But to set the record straight: Eskom has neither recorded shortfalls in its international power reconciliation nor investigated the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
Energy consumption is accounted through a comprehensive reconciliation process and is independently audited on a regular basis.
CLAIM 2: Zimbabwe electricity supplied from Eskom is not affected by load shedding in South Africa.
FACT 2: ZESA has firm and non-firm contracts with South Africa and is also curtailed in accordance with the NRS 048-9 regulatory code.
ENDS