Thapelo Mnisi (27), a chairperson of a local branch of a political party in Witbank, was released on R2000-00 bail by the Witbank Magistrates Court on 21 November 2022, on a charge of contravening the South African Explosives Act 15 of 2003.
Mnisi from KwaGuqa in Witbank allegedly sent a bomb threat message to Eskom’s Chief Operations Officer (COO) in May this year.
The alleged bomb threat message was preceded with reports of nepotism at Eskom and when his complaint was not responded to, he launched an attack to the COO.
He was part of a group of people from KwaGuqa 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 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.
The accused was arrested on Friday, 18 November 2022, during an operation by the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation assisted by the Bidvest Protea Coin Security.
The matter was postponed to 17 January 2023 when he appeared in court on Monday, 21 November 2022.
