Crime syndicates operating in the belly of Eskom have the attention of the highest office in the land after the presidency returned the former head of the foreign branch of the State Security Agency (SSA) Robert McBride to lead the special crime-fighting project at the utility.
McBride, whose return to the agency after a 22-month suspension was first reported by Sunday World, is a polarising figure. He is derided as a troublemaker by some and praised as a crime buster by others.
The agency has been housed in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office since 2021 after the worst violence in post-apartheid SA the same year,
Business Day understands that Ramaphosa has returned McBride solely to stop crime syndicates at Eskom from haemorrhaging everything from coal to parts used for maintenance amid continued severe power outages in SA.
“I can confirm that he is back,” said Sipho Mbele, a spokesperson for minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. He declined to comment further.
McBride’s return to help the police fight crime at Eskom lends credence to former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter’s covert investigation, which found crime syndicates are looting the power utility. The investigation and report paid for by the private sector also alleged the involvement senior ANC leaders and cabinet ministers are benefiting from the graft at Eskom.
McBride “is seen as a massive resource. His experience in the criminal justice system means he more than anyone else can get successful prosecutions and that is what we need at Eskom,” another source in the presidency said.
As a former uMkhonto weSizwe operative, McBride was on the front line of the struggle against apartheid. He later served as Ekurhuleni Metro police chief and head of the police watchdog Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
“Just look at [his] track record at Ipid; the goons at Eskom should now be very concerned,” another source in the presidency said.
Business Day has reliably learnt that McBride wrote to former minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubela detailing a plan to tackle crime syndicates at Eskom. But until now it was assumed that the proposal did not see the light of day.
McBride’s return comes weeks before his contract was due to expire and follows a change of guard in the SSA, where Ntshavheni was appointed as the spy agency’s political head in March. He was suspended in 2021 after a bungled spying operation in Mozambique’s terrorist-ridden Cabo Delgado region, in which SA spies were apprehended and equipment such as drones confiscated.
Resistance
McBride is expected to face resistance from inside the SSA as he embarks on what is expected to be the first of many “special projects”, according to an SSA insider.
Two former spooks also told Business Day that McBride was kept out so long because high-ranking officials in the SSA threatened to resign.
“The president was caught between a rock and a hard place. The president deferred to the [SSA] minister, who until now deferred to the [director-general] there,” one source said.
Another source said: “The minister [Ntshavheni] bringing him [McBride] signals a more hands-on approach to crime fighting from within SSA.”
Since her appointment as SSA minister, Ntshavheni has sought to lead Ramaphosa’s reform agenda.
Meanwhile, Eskom confirmed on Thursday that its head of security has been placed on precautionary suspension.
“Eskom confirms that Karen Pillay is placed on a precautionary suspension to allow space for the investigation of allegations levelled against her to continue unhindered. No further comments will be provided on this matter until the investigation is finalised,” Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said.
In May, City Press revealed the details of last year’s R500m security contract, which Pillay, and former Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer awarded to Fidelity on an emergency basis, without offering any other security company the opportunity to bid for the work.
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