Widespread Power Outages in the City of Johannesburg; Playing Game with the Economy of the City

The City of Johannesburg has experienced widespread electricity supply  outages in suburbs such as Kibler park, Wynberg, Randburg from Boskruin through Cresta, Homestead park, parts of Roodepoort, over the last few days. Residents have had difficulties in reporting these and getting sensible responses from the call centre and from the depots which appear in many cases to have been abandoned.

It appears that sections of the City Power workforce have embarked on wildcat strikes in retaliation to the imposition of new working conditions which has, for many of the workforce, led to a serious drop in take-home pay.  The members of the DA sitting in the Section 79 oversight committee have for months drawn attention to the perilously low level of staffing at City Power, in many areas being below the full complement by 50% and more. 

To counter this, in a market where competing for skills has become the norm and finding qualified people willing to work in these conditions is difficult, to introduce a working structure which reduces what the workers have come to expect is suicidal. Furthermore given the strategic nature of the electricity supply service to the economy of the city, it is simply playing games with the economic future of the city and the country.  

The Mayor  and the MD of City Power could be considered to be complicit in a form of crass indifference to the consequences of their actions tantamount to  economic sabotage. We urge that the Mayor and the MD go back to the drawing-board , engage with the organised labour and find a more equitable solution. 

Statement issued by Cllr Denis Hunt, DA Spokesperson on the Environment and Infrastructure Services in the City of Johannesburg, September 5 2013

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