Mbombela - The Green Scorpions have descended on Mpumalanga's Eskom power stations to inspect the electricity provider's compliance with environmental laws.
The group of inspectors, officially known as the Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI), started their five-day campaign at the Eskom Komati Asbestos site along the N4 Ring Road on Monday.
"The main objective of the campaign is to monitor adherence to conditions stipulated in Environmental Authorisations, Environmental Management Plans and Waste Management Licenses as well as to improve the general status of compliance within the regulated community," said EMI spokesperson, Moses Randitsheni.
He said as part of the campaign, the Green Scorpions would also take appropriate enforcement actions where Eskom is found to be non-compliant.
Targeted areas in Mpumalanga include Eskom's Camden Substation and the transmission line between Duvha Power Station and Janus Substation in Middelburg.
He said five other Eskom projects had already been inspected in Limpopo.
Randitsheni said the team had inspected Eskom's construction site at the Medupi Coal Power Station in Lephalale.
This includes associated structures as well as the construction of raw water reservoirs and pipelines for the power station.
"According to the preliminary reports, the projects are progressing quite well and the compliance status is generally satisfactory. The alignment and the construction of a portion of the Afguns road as well as the construction of the telecommunication mast in the vicinity of Medupi power station have been completed and the compliance status is also satisfactory," said Randitsheni.
"In the construction of the Medupi-Marang 400kV transmission power line, the Green Scorpions found that Eskom is not complying with certain conditions of the Environmental Management Plan," he added.
Eskom was not immediately available for comment on the issue.
Randitsheni said other facilities had been inspected outside Limpopo as well.
This includes telecommunication company Neotel's construction of an optical fibre network project from Germiston to Cato Ridge in Gauteng through Free State to KwaZulu-Natal.
"The project is underway and the inspection team found that river crossing and the abstraction of water from the water course are being carried out without the required permits. Furthermore, the rehabilitation plan for the project has not been developed and Neotel is also not complying with certain conditions of the Environmental Management Plan," he said.
Public relations officer at Neotel, Chuma Siswana, said: "We are currently doing an investigation to see why there is no compliance with conditions of the Environmental Management Plan in our project in Germiston. We are planning to release a statement or a response soon."
Randitsheni said all non-compliances detected during the inspections were currently being reviewed and will be met with appropriate enforcement action where necessary.
He said members of the public are urged to report environmental transgressions on 0800 205 005.
