Another Majuba silo shows signs of deterioration - Solidarity

Union warns against Eskom's constant denial

Trade union Solidarity today warned against Eskom's continued denial regarding the actual state of its coal storage silos. This follows after information has recently been brought to Solidarity's attention that the Majuba power station's silo 30 has a visible two-metre-long crack - just over a month after the collapse of its silo 20.

In a recent letter, Solidarity requested the state-owned energy supplier to urgently take the necessary steps to prevent the collapse of the mentioned silo. Solidarity also expressed its concern for the safety of Eskom's employees.

According to Deon Reyneke, head of Solidarity's Energy Industry, Eskom has up to now failed to admit that knowledge of structural problems with the now collapsed Majuba silo 20 had existed at senior level since before the collapse on 1 November.

"Two days after the silo collapsed, Solidarity issued a statement claiming that Eskom had been aware of abnormal vibrations in the silo for months. Eskom has since repeatedly denied any such knowledge. Moreover, the company failed to reply to a letter from Solidarity, in which the union sought to bring more information relevant to the collapse under Eskom's attention," Reyneke said.

Reyneke says Eskom's refusal to acknowledge its mistakes and to instead pretend that Solidarity's claims are false, is unacceptable. "We have proceeded to gather evidence of Eskom's knowledge of the structural problems with silo 20 and Eskom's failure to conduct proper preventative maintenance. We are concerned that the same route will now be taken with silo 30," Reyneke warned.

Reyneke added that Eskom was obsessed with the source of Solidarity's information. "We are not prepared to subject the source of our information to possible intimidation and victimisation. We can, however, confirm that a senior manager, whose name is known to us, has revealed in an official Eskom meeting that the company has been aware of the structural problems with Majuba's silo 20 since at least September this year.

"Solidarity has, however, offered its assistance to curb the malpractices that led to the silo's structural problems, but has not yet received any feedback from Eskom in this regard," Reyneke added.

Statement issued by Deon Reyneke, Head of industry: Solidarity, November 20 2014

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