Let’s Talk About Eskom’s Alleged Role in Wildfire Breakouts

Statement by Kevin Mileham MP – DA Spokesperson on Electricity & Energy:

The DA is deeply concerned by growing reporting of Eskom cables and infrastructure being involved in wildfire ignition and breakouts in various vegetationous parts of the country.

Eskom’s involvement allegedly includes high-level and high-capacity cables breaking, and sparking dry vegetation, and several incidences of cable theft that have caused broken cables to strike surrounding vegetation, or cable thieves starting fires to burn off cable insulation.

The DA will submit a range of probing parliamentary questions to the Minister of Electricity and Energy, as soon as the Questions Office reopens, to ascertain the facts around a potentially deadly link between Eskom’s infrastructure and the wildfires ravaging the Eastern and Western Cape.

A particular point of enquiry is whether Eskom’s own technicians, or their sub-contractors, are completing maintenance and repairs sufficiently, and what quality control is being applied to this maintenance and these repairs.

To probe the link between poor maintenance and repair jobs, and subsequent fires, the DA will obtain Eskom’s records of maintenance and repairs, overlaid with incidences of electrically ignited fires in and around Eskom high-capacity cables.

What is worse is that Eskom’s security strategy is stuck in the past. While the entity bleeds billions, it relies on traditional guarding that is easily bypassed by syndicates – there is no modern or intelligent technology being deployed to stop high-capacity cable thefts and vandalism.

The DA’s parliamentary questions will probe Eskom’s security budget and technology: we need to know why funds aren’t being aggressively pivoted to advanced remote monitoring—like drone surveillance and arc-detection technology—that can detect a cut line before it starts a fire.

The scourge of cable theft is no longer just an economic crime costing South Africa R45 billion a year; it has mutated into an environmental disaster that is actively incinerating our countryside.

The DA’s probe will also advance into uncovering whether apprehended suspects are being adequately charged with Environmental Crimes and Arson – rather than just the more minor theft or trespassing charges. Allowing apprehended suspects to escape with more minor prosecution and then light sentences is unacceptable while our farmers and communities burn.

The Minister cannot treat these fires as “Acts of God.” They are acts of man, whether by act or omission, and the DA expects full transparency on this destruction.