Medupi calm after Eskom protest

Reuters

Workers mill around in front of the construction site of Eskoms Medupi power station, a new dry-cooled, coal-fired power station, in Limpopo. Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

Limpopo - The atmosphere at the Medupi power plant in Limpopo was calm on Friday afternoon following a violent protest by Eskom contract employees, engineering group Murray & Roberts said.

“It is still calm on site,” spokesman Ed Jardim said.

On Thursday, about 80 workers, contracted by Murray & Roberts Construction and Grinaker-LTA, damaged several vehicles and some equipment at the power plant.

The workers embarked on the protest because they, along with around 500 others, were due to lose their jobs.

Jardim said they had been well informed of the demobilising plan.

“With a major project like this, often you have to mobilise and demobilise employees depending on the need and the project labour plan.

“The plan is done in accordance with Eskom and we followed all the right channels,” he added.

After the protest broke out on Thursday, all the workers were sent home as a precautionary measure.

“Since then everyone who is party to the project labour agreement (contractors, clients, and unions) have been in discussion,” Jardim said.

“We hope to return to full production by next week Monday.”

Medupi, the 4764 MW power station, was expected to start generating power for the national grid next year. About 17 000 workers were on the site.

In a statement, the Democratic Alliance said the protest would drag-out the power station's construction at the expense of the taxpayer.

“The DA will be insisting that Eskom brief the public enterprises committee on the recent bout of delays as a matter of urgency,” DA MP Natasha Michael said. - Sapa