THE National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) yesterday called for an independent probe of contractors at Eskom’s Medupi power station, placing the blame for delays solely on their shoulders.
The union’s position came a day after Eskom’s former finance director, Paul O’Flaherty, rebuked the construction industry, saying the way labour was trained, supervised and treated was unacceptable.
Eskom announced earlier this week that the plant would provide its first power by the middle of next year, six months behind schedule, which could hit its ability to meet electricity demand.
Numsa’s move to blame contractors came despite criticism of the unions after construction was beset by a series of illegal strikes for five months from December, the longest of which lasted six weeks.
At a media briefing yesterday, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim also raised the possibility of sabotage at the Limpopo plant, saying the union had heard “many storiesâ€. He laid the blame for the delays squarely at the door of contractors.
A probe into whether there was any conflict of interest was required, he said. “We hear that some would be working during the day as managers, and their houses at Medupi would be rented out to Eskom to make money,†Mr Jim said.
“Will they want the construction to end in December if they are able to extend it?â€
There was also a bomb threat at the plant last week, Mr Jim alleged. “It’s time for vigilance, it’s time for Eskom to realise that when we deal with mega-projects and the state, we need to be watertight not to allow these companies to milk the state.â€
He described the conduct of these companies in relation to labour as “terribleâ€. Eskom has said penalties would be imposed on contractors responsible for repeated delays in the building of its power stations.
Numsa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), both Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) affiliates, organise workers at Medupi. There has been a longstanding contest between the two over workers at Eskom, who are meant to be organised by the NUM. Numsa has a large contingent of members at the power utility, who the NUM believes should be handed over to it.
Yesterday, Mr Jim said Numsa was now the largest Cosatu affiliate, having reached 320,000 members. The NUM, too, claims to have 320,000 members, but it lost members during the labour unrest in the mining industry last year.
It has been replaced as the majority union on the platinum belt by a rival union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). The rivalry between the NUM and Numsa in Cosatu has led to allegations that Numsa was funding Amcu, in a bid to dethrone the NUM as the largest, and most influential, union in the federation.
However, yesterday Numsa deputy general secretary Karl Cloete moved to put to rest those allegations, saying that his union, too, was under attack by Amcu.
Numsa’s national executive committee had received a report from its Sedibeng region that Amcu was attempting to infiltrate three companies organised by it. Amcu has called Numsa members to a mass meeting tomorrow in a bid to lure them to join Amcu.
“We shall never allow a situation of sitting back and bringing rivalry in the sectors of the economy we organise in, we plan to go all out,†Mr Cloete said.
