Durban Resumes Regular Load Shedding After Clearing Outage Delays

Back to Scheduled Power Cuts

Durban’s households are set to revisit the familiar routine of load shedding, as confirmed by the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. After wrestling with extended outages fueled by a municipal workers’ strike, the city is ready to adhere to Eskom’s load reduction directives.

Overcoming Obstacles:

• Strike Aftermath: The recent labor dispute led by the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has been marked by disruptions and a significant backlog in electricity services.
• Municipal Action: With over 80 dismissals and nearly 2,000 misconduct notices, the municipality has navigated through the turmoil, addressing the outages intensified by the strike.

Moving Forward:

• National Grid Protection: From 3 April 2024, Durban aligns with Eskom’s load shedding protocols, urging residents to follow the official schedule.
• Wage Dispute: Demands for higher salary bands and increases were central to the strike, with the city highlighting such issues exceed local jurisdiction.

Strike Fallout:

• Infrastructure Impact: Demonstrations escalated to significant damage and the tragic death of an Umlazi cemetery supervisor, underlining the strike’s severity.
• Service Restoration: Post-strike, the focus shifts to mending the damage and mitigating service delivery delays.

As Durban transitions back to “normal” load shedding, the city’s recent strife underscores the broader challenges faced by municipalities in balancing workforce demands with service continuity and grid stability.