CAPE TOWN, March 24 (ANA) – Eskom on Friday announced it had signed a bilateral agreement with the State Security Agency (SSA), which essentially allows the power utility to conduct its own vetting of staff.
“The Memorandum of Understanding gives Eskom the mandate to establish Vetting Fieldwork Units to conduct vetting investigations internally on behalf of SSA,” said Eskom’s divisional executive for security, Tebogo Rakau in a statement.
“SSA shall be responsible for training internal Eskom Vetting Investigators free of charge and may assist on the recruitment of the vetting staff.”
The agreement was signed in terms of the National Strategic Intelligence Act.
The parastatal said the agreement will enable employees to be issued with security clearances within four months.
“The days of waiting for security clearances for years are coming to an end,” said Rakau.
“Eskom employees and contractors who have access to classified information and/or National Key Points, but currently do not have valid security clearances (issued by SSA), are by law required to complete the declaration of secrecy forms before such access is granted.”
– African News Agency (ANA)
