South African corruption and Chinese power (company)
Politics & Current Affairs
Micah Reddy and investigative center Amabhungane report that a local municipality in eastern South Africa has ordered China Sinogy Electric Engineering Company (CSEEC) to stop construction of an electrical power substation.
- The poor, rural municipality of Thaba Chweu in Mpumalanga Province is not yet complete, but the project has already taken six years and cost about 400 million South African rand ($30 million).
- The project was suspended “after criticism from opposition councillors, activists and residents that there was no need to sink such a vast sum into a substation in the first place — and that the municipality had signed away most of its electricity revenue stream to pay for it.”
- However, “CSEEC insists the substation is sorely needed,” as do the local bureaucrats, who are apparently finding ways to line their pockets.
