A Bloemfontein businessman desperate for electricity chained himself to the desk of a secretary at the city’s power utility Centlec

Die Volksblad newspaper reported on Monday that a frustrated Christo Hunter chained himself to the desk after trying for four months to get Centlec to give him a quotation to switch power on at a building.

“I just could not take it longer. I am finished. To do this on a Friday afternoon shows you how desperate and tired I am,” the newspaper quoted Hunter as saying.

The report said the office of senior Centlec official Leon Kritzinger was astir when Hunter used a thick chain to lock himself to the desk.

Hunter told the newspaper a security guard wanted to know why he did not make an appointment to sort out his problems.

He said after many emails and phones calls he did not receive any reaction and was prepared to sit at the desk until Monday to get a meeting.

Eventually, he and his partner was promised a meeting with Kritzinger and a sceptical Hunter unlocked himself.

It was not clear when the meeting would take place.

“Hulle is hardegat (They are difficult). We do not get answers or reaction from them,” Hunter said in the report.