Protesters at Eskom headquarters demand jobs, coal supply contracts

A group of protesters from Mpumalanga forced Eskom to close the main entrance to its headquarters in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said the protesters were gathered at the main gate and, for security reasons, management took a decision to close it and asked staff to use the west entrance instead.

"This led to long traffic heading towards the only entrance. Head office has about 3,000 employees coming through to work in the morning. Therefore there was a lot of backlog leading to the west entrance," said Phasiwe.

Phasiwe said the demonstrators had previously come to the Eskom headquarters during lunch time demanding that they be employed at Eskom power stations in Mpumalanga.

They were also demanding that they be considered for coal supply contracts.

Phasiwe said the group of about 50 people were from communities around the Kendal Power Station near Ogies in Mpumalanga.

He said that Johannesburg metro police department officers were directing the traffic.