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Saboteurs take down 85 Telkom cabinets in five days affecting 13 000 customers

Telkom infrastructure is under fire from a group of saboteurs who have damaged as many as 85 Telkom street distribution cabinets over the course of five days.

The attacks on Telkom’s infrastructure comes as a Communication Workers Union (CWU) strike enters its fourth week. Telkom has said that the sabotage has negatively impacted 13 000 customers, both residential and business alike.

Further to this, instances of intimidation, such as threatening non-striking technicians in the Western Cape and violence outside a Telkom facility in Randburg have been reported by TechCentral.

“These incidents are examples of ongoing acts of intimidation by the CWU and the spike in sabotage is related to this industrial action,” Telkom group executive for communication, Jacqui O’Sullivan said in a statement.

“These are not random acts of vandalism or incidents of cable theft. These people know where to go and what to do to wreak maximum damage. This is in-house.”

Last week Telkom offered a R500 000 reward to anybody who had information that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the damage to Telkom’s infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the CWU’s president, Clyde Mervin said the union was unaware of any sabotage on Telkom facilities.

“While we are striking, members are following the law. We went on strike legally. If it is found that any members of the union have been involved in the incidents we will deal with them,” Mervin told Fin24 last week.

O’Sullivan has also said that Telkom employees that are on strike will not be paid. ”

“Those who have been striking consistently since 1 August have been informed they will not be paid on the 25th of this month as a manual verification to check whether they actually worked any days in August is required. We will pay any days owing to them for August by 7 September 2016 in line with the requirements of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act,” O’Sullivan said.

Telkom has said that its technicians which are not on strike are working around the clock to restore service to the affected areas.

“In areas where the work is still underway, the technicians are bringing streets back online as they complete the repairs,” said O’Sullivan.

[Via – TechCentral]

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