Zukile Majova
The Eskom workers’ strike has come to an end but load shedding will continue for the rest of this week and next week.
Eskom has laid out a schedule that stretches to Sunday 10 July. Stage 2 is expected to continue with the power utility issuing a caution that it will take a few weeks for power generation to reach pre-strike levels.
“Load shedding will therefore continue being implemented at varying stages during the next few weeks as the generation capacity shortages persist,” Eskom said in a statement.
Load shedding stage 5 remains in place for Wednesday and Thursday resulting in loss of eight to 10 hours of electricity in a 24 hour cycle.
Stage 3 is scheduled for Friday and stage 2 for Saturday and Sunday.
The utility said the wage agreement with its workers has added R1 billion to its payroll.
The utility said some 2 754MW capacity was under maintenance while a further 16 807MW of electricity was lost to breakdowns at various stations.
Despite the 7% wage increase agreement signed on Tuesday, the backlog of maintenance has forced Eskom to keep load shedding a factor.
Eskom does however plan to take action against the workers that left the utility understaffed for a week during their strike.
The strike forced Eskom to implement stage 6 load shedding for the first time since December 2019.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said Eskom would be unwise to take legal action against the workers.
“I think it would be stupid. We are sitting here since this dispute was kicked off by Eskom walking out of negotiations – not the workers or unions,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said.
Image source: @EskomHoldings
