By Thys Khiba – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) branch chairperson, Thapelo Mnisi who was accused of making bomb threats against Eskom chief operating officer (COO), Jan Oberholzer has been granted bail by Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court.
Eskom Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer
This comes after Mnisi allegedly sent a bomb threat message to Oberholzer in May 2022.
He was arrested during an operation by the Hawks and Bidvest Protea Coin Security on Friday.
#CamdenSabotage Update
The accused, Thapelo Mnisi, a 27yr male from Witbank appeared before the Magistrates Court on a charge of contravening sections of the South African Explosive Act 15 of 2003
The accused was granted bail and the matter has been postponed to January 2023
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 22, 2022
The 27-year-old Mnisi charged of contravening the South African Explosives Act 15 of 2003 appeared in the EmalahleniMagistrate’s Court and was released on R2000 bail.
According to the Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase indicated that the threats were in connection with allegations of nepotism and dissatisfaction over not being employed at Eskom. Mnisi was part of KwaGuqa people who were trained as boilermakers at Kusile power station by a company contracted to Eskom.
“The group was allegedly promised to be absorbed through permanent employment opportunities in the organisation. However, upon qualifying as boilermakers, they were only called to work on a casual basis.
Mnisi and his group were enraged when they were not hired and found out about other people who were allegedly employed whilst they were excluded. The bomb threat was reported to the police and was assigned to the Hawks’ Crime Against the State team for further handling,” said Nkwalase.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the power utility confirmed its security investigations team had notified the police upon hearing of the threat. It is also alleged that Mnisi used an unregistered SIM card to send the message.
At the time of publishing this article, Central News couldn’t get a view from the EFF.
The matter has been postponed to 17 January 2023.
CENTRAL NEWS
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