Slow electricity repairs on the cards as eThekwini contractors protest work conditions

The fixing of electrical faults in eThekwini Municipality could take longer than usual after the municipality’s electricity unit contractors downed tools this week in protest of poor working conditions.

Technicians work on power lines on a farm near Kroonstad. File Picture

Published Jul 7, 2022

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Durban - The fixing of electrical faults in eThekwini Municipality could take longer than usual after the municipality’s electricity unit contractors downed tools this week in protest of poor working conditions.

The contractors are electricians subcontracting work from main contractors who are employed by the municipality.

The grievances include “cutting” the number of the contractors employed, failure to pay the contractors on time, randomly changing their working areas without consultation, and lack of safety when attending to faults.

The contractors said they met with the city leadership on Monday at the Durban City Hall where they raised their grievances, and they met alone in the Montclair area to discuss the way forward on Tuesday.

Sources in the municipality said the contractors were not employees of the municipality, and as such should address their employment challenges with their employers. They said it was disingenuous to demand that the municipality account for their employment working conditions.

They said that in July, new contracts were awarded. Some of the main contractors that had been part of the system were not appointed, which meant the people they were subcontracting also lost the work opportunity.

This is the second strike by the contractors this year. In January, they downed tools after their contracts were not renewed. The matter was later settled and they returned to work.

One of the contractors spoke to The Mercury on condition of anonymity, saying close to 200 contractors had lost their jobs this month. He said that initially the municipality had about 447 electricians, attached to different units including “fault, maintenance and others”.

“Remember, each electrician has about two or three assistants working with them, so you can imagine how many families are affected.”

He said that under the new contract, the city accommodated only 247 contractors. “Some of them were told on Thursday last week that they did not have a job on Friday.”

He warned that cutting the number of contractors could lead to delays in fixing faults and other issues, which would impact negatively on Durban residents.

The source said it was not just the issue of work that was a problem.

“The city officials are not respecting the principle of paying business people within 30 days. Our invoices are often delayed.

“Many of us have not been paid for months, my vehicle is on the verge of being repossessed because I am behind on my payments, and I am not the only one.

“Another problem is that our work areas are changed without notice, which sometimes results in us incurring more travel expenses as the new area might be far from where we live or had been working.

“We are also not safe, we are left on our own, we are not protected when we go to sites, yet municipal employees receive protection. There have been numerous attacks on contractors in the past few months. I have been a victim, I was hijacked, one of my colleagues was hijacked and the car was found the following day. It had been stripped.”

He said they wanted a meeting with the leadership of the municipality to address their grievances.

Head of electricity Maxwell Mthembu said the city could not be drawn into the dispute as the workers were subcontractors of businesses that were employed by the city, and as such any complaints should be addressed to their employers.

Mthembu said the claim that many had lost jobs was inaccurate, and that about 350 people had been employed as new contracts, one more contract was outstanding and more people would be employed once that contract was issued.

Mthembu stressed that no one was entitled to employment from the municipality.

People were employed as and when opportunities become available, and in this case, electricians would be employed if their main contractors were awarded contracts, he said.

THE MERCURY