Workers protest ahead of Ramaphosa’s visit to the Redstone Thermal Solar Plant in Postmasburg

More than 200 workers at the Redstone Thermal Solar Plant in Postmasburg, in the Northern Cape, have downed tools ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the plant on Thursday.

TODAY: President @CyrilRamaphosa conducts oversight visit to the Redstone Concentrated Solar Power Thermal Plant in Postmasburg, Northern Cape
#JustTransition #LeaveNoOneBehind 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/kq7JsfTtiA

— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 20, 2022

Workers are complaining about being underpaid. They say the contractor has been paying them R30 an hour while they are demanding R50 an hour rate.

Employees at the Redstone Concentrated Thermal plant in Postmasburg, Northern Cape have downed tools ahead of @PresidencyZA Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit today. They demand a salary increase, saying they wrote to the President’s office previously. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/G7OZGvNn3V

— Reginald (@ReggieReporter) October 20, 2022

Shop steward Kagisho Lekwene says they want the President to address their concerns which include allegations of racism.

“We are protesting because of the rate that we are getting from Redstone which is R30. We don’t accept that rate. We won’t back down until the Redstone people, the Aqua people, they fix the rate because South African labour law gives them the rate of R44. They are not paying that money, they are paying us R30 so as workers we say we won’t go to work until they fix this thing.”

According to the presidency, the Redstone Thermal Solar Plant project forms part of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme.

The project forms part of the South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme #REIPPP which aims to bring additional megawatts onto the country’s electricity system through private sector investment in wind, biomass and small hydro, among others.

— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 20, 2022