Service delivery strikes usually make us fume… this one won’t
While the rest of South Africa was subjected to Stage Two load shedding over the weekend, the lights stayed on in Nelson Mandela Bay because the workers who had to flick the switch went on strike.
South Africans are usually quick to condemn strikes, especially by municipal employees. However, most residents of Port Elizabeth and environs are quietly hoping for a protracted work stoppage in the local municipality’s electricity department – employees refuse to do any work, including flicking the master switches to implement load shedding.
While the rest of South Africa was subjected to Stage Two loadshedding over the weekend, the lights stayed on in Nelson Mandela Bay. It initially puzzled residents, until word started getting around that it was due to the strike. It couldn’t have come on a more appropriate weekend – the Metro was hit by a succession of cold fronts, which brought with it a lot of rain and freezing temperatures. Heaters and electric blankets stayed on. Besides, many people were worried that they could miss the live TV coverage of the rugby test between the Springboks and the All Blacks, as well as Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix in Budapest.
Staff at the energy and electricity department of the municipality embarked on a strike, believed to be related to allowance issues. Metro spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said it was not a formal strike and that senior management from the Metro’s Electricity and Energy Department were in negotiations with the workers, to try and end the impasse.
The strike was not good news for everyone. The labour action had resulted in a delay in the repairing of a faulty line which went down in the Seaview Area on Friday night, as staff were not prepared to attend to the matter.
Negotiations were continuing on Monday, with many residents hoping for the impasse to last at least a few days longer.
