(Bloomberg) -- Labor unrest at South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. after a standoff over wage negotiations is pushing the continent’s most-industrialized economy toward record blackouts.
Acts of intimidation, arson and public violence have occurred at coal-fired power plants that supply nearly all of the nation’s electricity, curtailing supply and threating to deepen rolling blackouts nationwide, Eskom executives said at an emergency briefing. The outages on Tuesday could reach Stage 6 -- removing 6,000 megawatts from the system -- a level that last occurred in 2019.
Wage negotiations between labor groups and Eskom ended in a deadlock last week.
“This is unprotected industrial action, it is unlawful,” Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter told reporters. He described the loss of 10 generation units overnight, along with skeleton staff remaining at some plants where roads have been blocked intentionally and people being “very scared” with the homes of employees and vehicles set on fire.
Power outages that are implemented to protect the grid from total collapse were extended until Wednesday as the utility builds up emergency reserves.
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