And now begins the blame game

PEOPLE living around Medupi do not believe the giant power station will be ready even by late next year.

“People knew Medupi wouldn’t be delivered in time,” said Stephen Nhlapo of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. “Everybody saw it coming.”

He added that “there were 900 defects in the [Hitachi] boilers and not all have been assessed. People knew.”

Francois Campher, an estate agent in Lephalale, 12km from Medupi, said no one believed the power station would come on line by the end of the year. “No one was working most of the time,” he said.

A site manager said it was “pretty clear” there was no chance it would be finished: “Productivity has been at about 8%.”

Nhlapo blamed the contractors and managers; Campher blamed the unions.

Everyone was saying it was Eskom’s fault, said Campher, but no one took responsibility for the strikes. “Now it’s the food; now it’s the accommodation. The reasons are ridiculous.”

Not true, said Nhlapo, the managers were sabotaging construction. Many ran businesses, guesthouses and bed-and-breakfast operations in town and the longer Medupi took to finish, the more money they would make, he said.

Just as Eskom extended the delivery date, contractors began to issue retrenchment notices. “How can you retrench people when the work isn’t done?”

He said the retrenchments were a direct result of the fines imposed on many construction companies that were guilty of collusion. Workers believed it was the way the companies planned to recoup money that they had to pay out in fines.

And while Medupi is delayed, Lephalale is booming. Business has never been so good.