President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the efforts by law enforcement agencies and the South African Revenue Service to bust coal smuggling syndicates operating in the country. Planned search and seizure operations targeting coal smuggling syndicates have gained traction across five provinces with the documents of individuals alleged to have committed procurement fraud, tax crimes and coal diversion being confiscated. This operation follows on from a raid in September on an illegal coal mine in Mpumalanga, where the South African Police Service Illicit Mining Task Force seized R60-million of mining equipment. Ramaphosa decried the impact of coal smuggling on the lives of South Africans and alluded to the impact of coal diversion as an impediment to the country’s energy generation capacity. “When I visited the Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga last year, the plant’s management explained to me the significant damage caused to its operations by this inferior coal. The coal is often mixed with other stones and other materials. They explained that the conveyer belts at the power stations repeatedly break down because the stones damage the belts, with the result that spare parts have to be brought at substantial costs. The entry of poor-grade coal into the production processes further affects power station boilers, causing corrosion and other long-term damage,” he added.