Incidents of intimidation of employees and blocking roads to power stations and facilities had occurred.
As a result, load-shedding was on Friday ramped up to stage 4 from 11am until midnight and will continue throughout the weekend as Eskom tries to conserve emergency reserves.
Head of generation Rhulani Mathebula said many activities at power stations had to stop, including manual loading of coal into systems.
Mathebula said there were attempts to force employees out of power stations on Thursday.
“We have encouraged our employees to make sure they share with us the records of SMSes they are receiving and the number of calls they are receiving so we can deal with the issues.
“This morning I received reports that some of our managers, when coming in this morning, their cars were stoned.”
Mathebula said some employees had stayed home for their own safety.
Managers had to step up and take responsibility to add more megawatts to the grid.
Oberholzer said there were low reserves of water and diesel at the peaking plants and stage 4 was necessary to protect the integrity of the system and preserve reserves to respond to possible emergencies.
Diesel stock levels at Ankerlig power station were below 40% on Friday morning. “We are about 30%, which is extremely low.”
TimesLIVE
Eskom granted interdict to stop strike at plants amid stage 4 load-shedding
Image: Emile Bosch
Eskom has been granted a court order stopping the unprotected strike action at nine of its power stations and facilities over the past 24 hours.
Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer said the strike and intimidation of workers could increase the risk of load-shedding at higher stages.
Some employees went on an unprotected strike after a deadlock in wage negotiations on Tuesday.
“This morning [Friday] we went to court and an interdict was granted. This is an illegal strike and should any of our employees or colleagues conduct themselves in a way that is not appropriate we will take the necessary action,” he said.
“We have a disciplinary process.”
The power utility’s management team provided an update on the system challenges on Friday amid stage 4 rolling blackouts.
Load-shedding ramped up to stage 4 right through weekend
Incidents of intimidation of employees and blocking roads to power stations and facilities had occurred.
As a result, load-shedding was on Friday ramped up to stage 4 from 11am until midnight and will continue throughout the weekend as Eskom tries to conserve emergency reserves.
Head of generation Rhulani Mathebula said many activities at power stations had to stop, including manual loading of coal into systems.
Mathebula said there were attempts to force employees out of power stations on Thursday.
“We have encouraged our employees to make sure they share with us the records of SMSes they are receiving and the number of calls they are receiving so we can deal with the issues.
“This morning I received reports that some of our managers, when coming in this morning, their cars were stoned.”
Mathebula said some employees had stayed home for their own safety.
Managers had to step up and take responsibility to add more megawatts to the grid.
Oberholzer said there were low reserves of water and diesel at the peaking plants and stage 4 was necessary to protect the integrity of the system and preserve reserves to respond to possible emergencies.
Diesel stock levels at Ankerlig power station were below 40% on Friday morning. “We are about 30%, which is extremely low.”
TimesLIVE
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