Operations have been disrupted at Kusile Power Station in Emalahleni in Mpumalanga. This after security guards embarked on a strike and closed the gates into the Power station demanding payment from the company contracted by the power utility Eskom.
They are claiming that the company, Hlanganani Protection Services has failed to pay them the appropriate rate for services rendered.
They are demanding an hourly pay rate of R23 an hour as opposed to the R16 they are getting.
Spokesperson for the workers, Bheki Nyawo says negotiations with the company and Eskom have not yielded any results.
“We need a perfect project rate and anyone who enters this project they are having a project rate. But us they are not giving us that project rate they have their own rate. What I can say we were rating R16,77 – due to corruption they deduct from 16,77 to R16,41.
“When we tried to talk with them they intimidate the workers and dismiss the workers. We have tried to sit down and resolve this issue but there’s nothing happening. We are asking ourselves what do Hlanganani have on Eskom because a lot of corruption companies were out but they are failing to remove Hlanganani from here,” Nyawo explained.
The security officers want power utility Eskom to intervene. But Eskom refuses to be drawn into the dispute.
“There was an illegal strike this morning by the security personnel at Kusile power station. 80% of our workforce managed to get in. We would really encourage the security company to engage its workers, we can’t intervene,” says Eskom Deputy Spokesperson, Dikatso Mothae.
