Power utility Eskom has lost one of its valuable assets following a theft incident in Limpopo. A  reward has since been offered for any information that could lead to the recovery of the specialised machine.

On July 20, a car belonging to the company was broken into while parked in the Polokwane city centre. Two items were stolen from the car by unknown people. One of the items, a Toshiba laptop, has since been recovered after the arrest of three men.

But the other item, a Getac machine used to detect electrical faults during fly-in inspections, is still nowhere to be found. The machine is valued at R1.1-million. According to Eskom investigator Maphuti Meso, the machine was one of only two in the country. Meso said the machine was used to do line inspections through a helicopter to detect whether there were faults. “The machine is used for checking high power lines to detect if there are no faults,” said Meso.

He said the machine looks like a laptop but that it was a specialised machine bought in Sweden.

“The equipment is used on high-voltage transmission during fly-in inspections using a helicopter to detect and store information. This information is then downloaded and used during outage and maintenance management,” he said.

According to Meso, no one could operate the machine unless that person had been trained to do so. He said upon theft of the machine, the supplier was notified of the incident, resulting in a reward offered for the recovery of the “mission computer”. “A reward of R25 000 has been put forward for anyone with information that may lead to the recovery of the machine,” he added.

Police detective Warrant Officer Eben van Niekerk said they have arrested three men who were found in possession of the Toshiba laptop. “But our chain evidence led us to believe that those arrested were not responsible for stealing the [Getac] machine."   Van Niekerk said it was presumed that the people who stole the machine were stuck with it as they could not use it for any other purpose.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the machine is requested to contact Van Niekerk on 082-859-4897. Every information provided will be treated as confidential, Meso said on Thursday.