Pretoria - Calm has returned to Eskom’s Medupi power plant this morning, following protest action by between 500 and 1000 workers at the Limpopo plant on Wednesday.
Eskom spokesperson Hilary Joffe said the site was open and “all is quiet”.
The protest had turned violent with stones being thrown and two vehicles being damaged. However, no one was injured in the incident and the majority of workers were sent off site.
The protest is believed to have related to dissatisfaction with one of the allowances which workers receive, which is currently the subject of negotiation, said the parastatal.
Earlier this month, Eskom announced delays at the coal-fired Medupi plant in Limpopo. The first unit of the plant was supposed to start generating first power in December 2013. It was announced on Monday that the first unit would only generate power in the second half of 2014.
At a media briefing on the entity’s financial results, Chief Executive Officer Brian Dames assured there would be no load shedding as a result of the delay.
“We have not had any load shedding. From our perspective, there’s no direct relation between the Medupi delays and any load shedding,” Dames said earlier this month. -SAnews.gov.za
