Johannesburg - White owned companies have allegedly captured Eskom to block black companies from doing business with the power utility.
Former Eskom employee Dan Maaba said Eskom has been captured by white-owned companies to provide training for employees who operated on high voltage. Maaba said black-owned businesses were sidelined.
He said he had established this after the utility refused to accredit him to provide courses and training for operating regulations for high voltage systems (ORHVS) - for Eskom employees. He said only white-owned companies were accredited to provide training for ORHVS.
“This happened when I requested to be accredited as a service provider for ORHVS and related courses in 2017. The application was received by former technical specialist Johan van Loggerenberg and an assessment date was eventually set up in 2018.
“Wayne Hapeldt (technical training manager) assessed me and was very impressed with my presentation. I was then told I had to answer oral questions on ORHVS, and I did. Subjective questions were asked and I replied accordingly. Hapeldt told me I failed the oral session and had, therefore, failed the entire assessment,” said Maaba.
He added: “He then told me to write a whole exam, and I was told that I was incompetent in that as well.”
Maaba, who has been in this field for more than 20 years, said he requested to see the assessment sheet and Hapeldt refused. He said he wanted the assessment sheet to be moderated by an independent technical individual.
“I then established that the accreditation was only made available to white-owned companies. There was only one token black company accredited,” Maaba said.
He claimed only white-owned companies were on the utility’s training database as service providers while blacks were shunned. He said he took the matter to former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and an investigation was instituted at Megawatt Park Procurement.
Maaba said he demanded to see the report after the investigation but he was denied access.
“The training hierarchy at Eskom College was tasked to look into the matter - Dr Andrew Johnson (chief learning officer) invited chief advisor project management Raj Rajkumar to adjudicate. Rajkumar told me to go fly, saying they had enough training providers and they didn't need more."
He said it was clear that Eskom prioritised colour over skills and expertise.
The Eskom media desk on Wednesday said it would provide answers as soon as possible, but has failed to respond.
The power utility has long been accused of prioritising white-owned companies over black businesses. In August, the Black Business Council (BBC) accused Eskom of marginalising black-owned companies after the power utility terminated its contract with Econ oil.
The council said the sidelining of black businesses was a step back for the transformation agenda.