Protesters blocked major roads in the Free State on Tuesday, demanding that electricity be restored. Photo: Tladi Moloi
Protesters from Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State blocked major roads with rocks, burning tyres and trees on Tuesday, demanding that the Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality restore electricity.
Phuthaditjhaba, Clubview, Mphatlalatsane, part of Mandela Park and Industrial Area were without electricity since Friday. Electricity was restored shortly after the protest.
According to the police, five people have been arrested.
The protesters blame municipal electricity workers. They say employees stopped turning on the electricity after a power outage to protest a city decision to stop overtime and pay. Households have been without power for several weekends
The municipality sent a message to employees informing them that no more overtime had been budgeted for the 2024-2025 budget year and that overtime would be stopped from July 1.
According to the protesters, this meant that no one would help with power outages after 3:30 PM, both during the week and on weekends.
Map showing Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State of OpenStreetMap (royalty). The population of the city in the 2011 Census amounted to approximately 55,000 people.
One of the workers who has to turn the power back on after a power outage said some of the outages were intentional. “We work from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and anything after that is considered overtime. So some of our members would make sure to turn the plugs off before they leave, or set them to go off at a certain time,” he said.
Matokelo Maya, chairperson of the Clubview residents’ committee, said they had held a number of meetings with officials from the electricity department but had not resolved the issue. “You know, it’s painful to buy electricity and when you need it, it’s not there. We have given up on our municipality. It’s clear that they will only do the right thing if people come out on the streets, and we can’t always do that,” she said.
Police spokesman Mmako Mophiring said five people had been arrested for public violence.
Thabo Kessah, communications manager at the municipality, blamed the power outage on problems with the substation, which he said was under pressure after a transformer was destroyed.
He said the overtime issue had been resolved with the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).
Tankiso Motaung, SAMWU’s operations manager, confirmed that a temporary agreement had been reached.
“They have agreed that they will pay what the employees are owed next week and come up with a workable plan for the overtime that needs to be worked,” she said.
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