ESKOM_MOKOPANE TECHNICIANS _Soliciting bribes from community members at BAKENBURG VILLAGE

We would like to raise a serious concern regarding the conduct of technicians assigned to the ESKOM Mokopane – Bakenburg Village area. It has come to our attention that certain ESKOM technicians *withholding their names and contact numbers for as i have spoken to few of them,* are soliciting bribes from community members in order to perform their duties. These individuals are full-time ESKOM employees who already receive salaries, yet they continue to exploit residents who rely on them for essential services. Our village is currently undergoing a meter box upgrade rollout, an initiative that began several weeks ago. We were informed that our existing electricity meter boxes must be replaced. ESKOM assigned technicians to support this project; however, these technicians are no longer attending to all affected households. They selectively choose which homes to service and provide false feedback by claiming that residents were not available, even when this is untrue. Our household has been without electricity for two weeks — from 23 March 2026 until today, 1 April 2026. Despite repeated follow-ups, no technician has visited our home, while houses directly across the street have already been assisted. We logged a ticket with the ESKOM call centre on Saturday, 28 March. Although the ticket was assigned, no one attended to it. When we visited the local ESKOM office to follow up, the technician on duty informed us that they could only assist if we paid a “call-out fee” of R1,000. When we questioned this, several community members confirmed that they had previously paid such fees, as it has become a common practice for technicians to demand bribes before providing service. This is deeply concerning. The very organisation responsible for supplying electricity is employing staff who are exploiting the community they are meant to serve, and it appears no action is being taken to address it. Even personnel at the local branch openly advise residents to have “bribe money” ready if they want technicians to visit their homes. This raises serious questions about accountability and oversight within ESKOM Mokopane. Does senior management understand or care about the impact this behaviour has on the community? Without these very communities, the technicians would have no one to serve. The most vulnerable residents — including elderly community members who may not even know how to log a service ticket — are the ones suffering the most due to this misconduct.