ERMELO, MPUMALANGA – The Ermelo District Court has sent a stern message to infrastructure vandals by sentencing a former contractor to an effective 20 years behind bars.
On Monday 26 January 46-year-old Simeon Majaonke Shongwe was led away to begin his sentence following a high-stakes case of sabotage that crippled operations at the Camden Power Station.
The incident, which dates back to November 2022, saw Shongwe — then an employee of the contractor Howden — deliberately cause more than R22 million in damages to the national power grid. The court heard Shongwe intentionally removed a bearing oil drain plug from a turbine, a critical component in electricity generation.
This calculated act caused the oil burners to trip repeatedly as the oil drained away, eventually leading to the total failure and shutdown of Unit 4 after its mills were rendered inoperable. Evidence presented during the trial, including a confession, confirmed that the plug was removed specifically to force the unit to trip.
Shongwe’s arrest came just five days after the incident, thanks to a swift investigation by the Hawks’ Secunda-based Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit. While he made several court appearances and was released on bail during the lengthy proceedings, the weight of witness testimony and forensic evidence eventually sealed his fate.
The court sentenced Shongwe to 20 years for tampering with essential infrastructure and a further 15 years for theft. Because the magistrate ruled that the sentences should run concurrently Shongwe will spend the next two decades in prison.
Eskom Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane welcomed the firm sentence, describing it as a “decisive milestone” in an ongoing strategy to protect South Africa’s energy future. He emphasised that tampering with such infrastructure is a direct attack on the stability of the nation’s electricity supply and warned such acts would be met with “uncompromising justice.”
He noted Eskom is continually improving its internal governance, having recently consolidated its forensic and investigative functions into a new Group Investigations and Security Division that reports directly to his office.
Maj-Gen Nico Gerber, Provincial Head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, echoed these sentiments, noting that infrastructure sabotage remained a national plague directly hindering service delivery to the public. He praised the “excellent work” of the investigation and prosecution teams, stating that the conviction should serve as a stern warning to anyone implicated in such “despicable acts” against National Key Points.
The successful prosecution was bolstered by collaboration with the NATJOINTS Energy Safety and Security Priority Committee, which continued to work alongside the South African Police Service to protect the nation’s power stations and maintain public trust in the utility’s security.
