Sunset Avenue was a no-go area on Wednesday morning as factory workers demonstrated their frustrations at losing yet another day’s wage due to illegal power connections in area.
The workers burnt tyres at the entrance of the premises while demanding that the eThekwini Municipality takes note of their plight, caused by the power outages. According to the workers, the building’s on-and-off electricity issue has been overlooked for the past two weeks and today, they had enough. The aggrieved workers said that they had wasted two days of transportation fees coming to work this week, and that it only caused a hole in their already desolate pockets.
Yano Naidoo, a 60-year-old employee said: “Many of us are breadwinners in our families and almost R25 a day for transport to come to work is not playing. We are very cross and we want the eThekwini Municipality to connect our electricity. We have even resorted to taking our garments to a neighbouring factory to assist in production.”
A 51-year-old single mother, Jane Naidoo of Crossmoor said that their boss will now have to literally pay the price for municipality’s negligence as the month end draws in to a close. “We could have saved our transport money and bought a loaf of bread and other items we may need but we are investing it to come to work only to be sent back home. I am a single parent and I cannot afford to be sent home on account of the irresponsibility of the municipality. It is month-end, how are we to get a good wages and make ends meet at the end of this week,” she said.
Kashnee Naidoo from Sesha Fashions management said that they had first reported the matter on 8 February and saw some joy with the electricity being restored the next day. That however, did not last long as the factory was hit with another power cut, on Tuesday.
“We spoke to Lindeni from energy control who then referred us to a Mr Mhlongo and we have not been able to successfully reach him. We have exhausted so many avenues by going as far as calling the depot and the electricity department numerous times, but we are still experiencing the same problem and losing money on production,” Naidoo said.
The clothing factory has occupied the building on Sunset Avenue for almost 30 years and according to Naidoo, it is frustrating to keep production going when the electricity cuts are allegedly caused by illegal connections on the sub-station providing the building with power. “We have been here for 30 years and we have been facing the issue of illegal connections for perhaps the last three years. People come through to the box, illegally connect and if we are to say anything, they have no problem with burning down our hard work. Where do we go from here?” Naidoo said.
The landlord of the building, Ryan Reddy said that he was required to cough up around R1.5 million to move the sub-station in an effort to remedy the illegal connection issue. He said that the illegal connections running from a nearby informal settlement to the box caused a fire at the sub-station, resulting in power loss.
He said: “This has been going on for a number of years and municipality is not prepared to sort it out. When I reported the matter and enquired about moving the sub-station, I was told that I needed to have between R1.2 million to R1.5 million upfront and even then, there would be no guarantee that the building will get power. So what do we do? We are getting threatened and are in fear that the building may burn to the ground.”
The eThekwini Municipality was contacted but no comment has been received yet.
