The Eskom protests have kicked off as planned outside the Kendal Power Station in Mpumalanga.
The power utility issued an advisory on Monday, noting the scheduled picketing that is currently taking place outside the largest indirect dry-cooled power station in the world.
Eskom protests: What are the workers demanding?
According to reports, the Eskom protests are led by a group of temporary workers contracted by labour brokers and Eskom Rotek Industries.
The presence of the labour brokers in their work obligations with the power utility is the chief reason behind the picketing.
Furthermore, it is alleged that the power station’s temp workers have not received their monthly salary for September. However, we have yet to get confirmation from a representative of the protesters on this particular issue.
Should we prepare for load shedding?
At the centre of these disruptions is uncertainty regarding load shedding. Kendal Power Station contributes a total capacity of 4 116 MW of power into our national grid.
Failure to operate any of its six power generation units could force Eskom to shave off electricity demand by implementing rotational power cuts.
However, according to Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Matshantsha, contingency plans have been put in place to ensure regular operations at the power station amid the disruptions taking place outside.
“Eskom has put in measures to minimise the disruption to production and it bears noting that the matters that are being raised by the protestors are already before the CCMA,” he said.
We were able to source footage of the protest action taking place outside the power station, on Tuesday morning. You can watch it below:
At this time, no statements have been received from leaders of the Eskom protests. Moreover, the power utility has made no mention of a threat to power supply.
We will update this story as soon as new developments are reported.