[imagesource: Moneyweb]

It’s an open secret that there are nefarious elements operating that profit, both financially and politically, from the continued instability of Eskom.

Billionaire Rob Hersov and others have referred to a ‘diesel mafia’, a ‘cable mafia’, and other forces at play behind the scenes doing their utmost to ensure that the state-owned enterprise is thwarted in its efforts to keep the lights on.

Further weight was added to these claims when Eskom CEO André de Ruyter discovered a small device under the driver’s seat of his vehicle while cleaning.

It was labelled a “sophisticated bugging device” complete with a small microchip, antennae, and batteries. A preliminary report stated this is “not something ordinary private detectives use and it is not available on the open market”.

In the week that has followed, there has been much conjecture. Yesterday, MyBroadband published a report stating the device was “likely the panic button of a pre-fitted tracking system”:

“Based off of the photos that you have sent us, our third-party supplier Tracker have informed us that this could be one of their older devices that were fitted to Volvos a few years ago,” a Volvo spokesperson told MyBroadband.

The outlet also spoke with security researcher Daniel Cuthbert:

Had it been a covert implant, the device would typically have as few identifying markings as possible.

Image: Hendrik Hancke

The microcontroller and other chips on the board were also cheap, off-the-shelf components, refuting the claim that South Africans could not have made it.

Cuthbert’s conclusion was that the device, which he joked looked like a garage remote, was “not a tracking or listening device, and almost certainly not a covert implant”.

However, a TimesLIVE story published yesterday evening drew on the report on the device carried out by retired police commissioner George Fivaz’s company, George Fivaz Forensic & Risk.

The report claims the device has the capabilities to send and receive signals, as well as listen in on communications, and rubbished other claims doing the rounds:

• The device “is not what some newspapers and self-proclaimed experts are claiming, namely part of or an electric gate-motor control”.
• In our opinion sufficient substance was found to accept with certainty that the device has features and capabilities to transmit and receive signals (sound included).

Image: Supplied to News24

• It is assumed the person installing the device was disturbed and unable to install it properly, which is why it was found under the seat.
• The device seems to be in “sleeping mode” and special configuration is necessary to activate it.

De Ruyter said he’s in the process of filing criminal charges so that the situation can be further investigated.

In the interim, the report recommends that Eskom offices, boardrooms, and even high-ranking employee homes are swept to see whether other devices can be found.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall for some of the conversations that take place behind closed doors.

[sources:mybb&timeslive]