Eskom continuing talks with striking workers, says De Ruyter
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says they are continuing to meet with trade unions in a bid to get striking workers to return to their posts at power plants.
"The Eskom management, with the support of the board, is working very hard to do what is necessary within the constraints that we face from a financial point of view to resolve the matters at hand and ensure we can bring an end to this unlawful, illegal strike action."
The walk-out has seen the power utility ramping up load shedding to stage 6 after they lost 10 generation units overnight.
De Ruyter says while protests have been peaceful at some plants, the situation has intensified at others.
READ: Eskom pumps up load shedding to stage 6
"There has been blocking of the access road to Camden by the dumping of coal from a truck onto the access road. At Duvha, we have no controllers on-site and again, the plant is run by managerial staff, so that is quite a challenge.
"Grootvlei - it seems to be fine. At Hendrina, only 20 percent of workers are on shift - managerial staff are running the plant. A vehicle has been torched and intimidation is quite severe."
He says at Lethabo Power Station in the Free State, four homes belonging to plant operators have been petrol bombed.
On Tuesday afternoon, the power utility said stage 6 will last until 10pm.
For the two hours to midnight, it will bet at stage 4, and then it will be reduced to stage 2 until 5am.
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