The shutdown of one part of South Africa’s nuclear power plant earlier this year, which led to huge power cuts, was due to human error and not sabotage, the Government admitted and announced the need for tighter safety controls. An investigation identified human error as the likely cause for a metal bolt discovered in a generator at Cape Town’s Koeberg plant, which led to a shutdown, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin told Parliament. "We are unable to conclusively establish whether the presence of the bolt and other foreign substances was a deliberate act, despite prima facie indications," he said. "We have to ascribe this to human error." Parts of the Western Cape province suffered black outs over several weeks and even the power supply to Namibia was affected when one of two generators at Koeberg was damaged. Koeberg has a maximum capacity of 1,800 megawatts (MW). Factories and businesses in Cape Town complained of major losses in the wake of the interruptions and some intend to sue the power utility Eskom. The French Electricite de France (EDF) gave Koeberg a spare rotor in exchange for the damaged one, which the French firm will repair and keep as a spare. An investigation by police and security services has found no evidence of any organised group "being the agent of an act of sabotage at Koeberg", Minister Erwin said last week, backtracking from an earlier statement. On the eve of municipal elections on March 1, 2006 he had said: "The bolt that caused the generator’s destruction did not get there by accident," adding that criminal charges would be brought against some people "soon."

After the elections, the minister denied suggesting sabotage, then blaming
"human instrumentality" and later calling it "a very serious accident."