HAENERTSBURG: Power outages threaten job security
“If these power outages continue at Cloudlands, we will have to retrench 30% of our 62 employees in January 2019,” says Lawrence Rupp (29) manager of the construction timber farm Cloudlands outside Haenertsburg.
LIMPOPO – Rupp says, “This latest seven day outage has meant a R56 000 loss in production per day.”
One phase is down and Cloudlands needs three phases to run all their equipment needed for its business.
“Our biggest sales are at this time of the year and we aren’t able to meet the demand because of the power cuts.”
The main outlet for Cloudlands is in Waltloo, Silverton in Pretoria.
Rupp says that he’s lost count of the number of times he’s phoned the Greater Tzaneen Municipality on the number 082 679 0720. No one answers this ‘supposed’ hotline.
When production ceases the staff do maintenance work and cleaning but that brings in zero income.
December/January is always the worst time for power cuts because the municipality doesn’t monitor the situation on the lines effectively, he said.
“The municipality employs contractors to clear the lines. However, all they do is clear the grass below the trees. This is not the problem. The problem is the tree branches that threaten to touch the lines during inclement weather. No one from the municipality comes to inspect the shoddy contractor work.”
Rupp says that he and his staff already work on Saturdays – if there is full power – to try and catch up with these outages. However, running the business on a Saturday is exorbitant. As it is, it’ll take six months of hard work to recuperate the current financial loss.
The GTM spokesman Neville Ndlala could not be reached for comment.
