‘Million rand ticket’ scam plagues Eskom

A SENIOR Eskom employee has uncovered an alleged scam in which “Eskom technicians” are installing “million rand tickets” – unlimited electricity usage for R900 – in the Hammarsdale area of KZN.

The senior employee said both he and a colleague made this discovery after working in the area for years.

“At some stage the area was littered with illegal street connections and the wires criss-crossed gardens, fields and open spaces. Eskom cleaned the area and installed meters inside the houses. These technicians seemed to follow door to door not long after that,” he said.

“In a typical township, life is a constant hustle. One day, while working, I came across this middle-aged single parent of two trying to make a living by running a small project from home.

“Electricity had started eating into her profits since Eskom cleared the area of illegal connections and installed a metered box in her home and other households,” he said.

“It was when an ‘Eskom technician’ offered her electricity for life at only R900… This is called the ‘million rand ticket’.

“The woman bought a R10 voucher and the technician fiddled with the meter to amass a lifetime of credits. He pocketed his R900 and moved on,” the employee said.

He said the general mitigation “for their stealing ways” was half planted in their perception that essential services should be free for the poor, an expectation of the government.

“The other half of their excuse was that Eskom and its board are much bigger thieves than themselves. The technicians who go door to door nailing holes in the coffin of the bleeding beast do little to arrest the perception that Eskom is all about corruption, looting and plunder,” he said.

He also felt some sort of education strategy on good citizenship was urgently required if this widespread haemorrhaging was to be stopped.