Johannesburg - City Power electricians who deliberately plunged dozens of Joburg suburbs into darkness for days in September - by sabotaging electrical power stations in a protest against shift changes - are still at work.
The electricians, who were at the time claiming an average of R100 000 a month in overtime, are still in their jobs - raking in three times more than their basic salary, working 24 hours a day - despite promises of harsh action by the city.
Almost three months have passed since the massive blackout, and not one arrest has been made.
This is despite strong assurances from the utility at the time that action would be taken against the perpetrators who had targeted City Power - a national key point in terms of the 1980 Key Points Act.
The sabotage resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of rand to businesses, which were left without power for almost three days.
SAPS and SANDF members had to be called in to guard the four key points where electricity from Eskom is fed into the city’s grid, after electricians tampered with certain power stations, causing a blackout in many parts of the city.
At the time, Joburg member of the mayoral committee Matshidiso Mfikoe said the city would not be held to ransom and that the perpetrators would be pursued, “wherever they are”.
City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu, however, told The Star that “due to the resistance by staff, which resulted in the unlawful strike on September 4, management took a decision to engage in further consultations with staff to find an agreeable solution”.
Management, he said, has also appointed a “shift work expert” to assist with the consultations around the design of a shift roster, and work and pay rules.
“The expert has consulted extensively with labour, affected staff and management. The outcome of this consultative process will be implemented once completed. Currently, further consultations with labour are ongoing to finalise a suitable shift roster,” he said.
Xulu said shift work in these areas was supposed to have started on November 1.
“We are engaging with staff and organised labour to optimise the shift roster and will be continuously improving the system as we go forward,” he said.
The Star