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JOHANNESBURG. — Large parts of Johannesburg were without electricity yesterday — including the suburb where a critically-ill Nelson Mandela is recuperating — due to a strike that could see black-outs until the weekend. Johannesburg City Power, the company providing electricity to South Africa’s economic hub, warned that the outages could last for up to three days.
“We are doing our best to restore power in the affected areas, with the assistance of contractors,” it said in a statement.
“Nevertheless, we expect that full restoration is likely to take two to three days.”
Around 200 technicians downed tools on Wednesday afternoon, refusing to work outside normal working hours, Sapa news agency reported.
The suburb of Houghton, home to former president Mandela’s residence, was also affected.
The anti-apartheid icon, 95, is recuperating at his home which has been reconfigured so that he could receive intensive care, following his release from nearly three months in hospital on Sunday.
City Power installed a back-up generator a block from Mandela’s house on Wednesday night, and another generator could be heard from outside its high walls, according to Sapa.
At the start of September, Johannesburg City Power introduced evening shifts in an effort to decrease power outages in Africa’s largest economy, which has been facing electricity shortages for years.
“Unfortunately, there is a certain level of resistance by some employees which has resulted in unlawful work stoppages,” spokesman Louis Pieterse said.
He said that a court order issued early on Thursday had ordered the technicians back to work, but so far they have not done so. — AFP.
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