Mass resignation didn't affect Dikgatlhong

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Tuesday December 21, 2010 00:00

The 87 employees resigned after receiving their dues when the industrial court ruled in their favour.

Resident Engineer Boikanyo Mpho said the mass resignation coincided with a time when they were making final touches to a crucial part of the project. 'There was no serious impact to the project. At that time we were raising the dam level to divert the river. Those who resigned were mainly machine operators and labourers,' Mpho said, adding they are continuing to talk to the contractor to improve their working relationship with workers.

Prior to the resignations workers went on a strike that halted progress at the dam site. Dikgatlhong dam construction project by the Chinese contractor Sinohydro Corporation has been marred by poor work relations since it commenced as local employees complained of a communication problem with their Chinese counterparts. At some point the then Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Peter Siele and other government officials held a meeting with both parties and resolved that a staff committee be established to deal with labour issues. To date the committee has not been set up.

'Workers believe that they will be expelled from work once they serve on committees while employers on the other hand maintain that they expel workers for other reasons not necessarily for serving on committees,' he said during a media tour to the dam which is located some forty kilometers north of Mmadinare village in the confluence of Shashe and Tati Rivers.

The Project Engineer is optimistic that the P1.3 billion project that started in March 2008 will meet the deadline of March 2012 despite the challenges of strikes and floods that hindered progress. 'After the floods we worked double shifts to make up and even exceeded lost time. The project has gone for 32 months so far without challenges except the strike that we managed to resolve,' he said.

Dikgatlho dam will be the biggest dam in the country targeted primarily for water supply purposes as part of the country's national water master plan revised a few years ago, Mpho explained. He said the dam is anticipated to be a major source of water supply to meet water demands in the country. He, however, noted that water demand may increase with time when developments overstretch available water supplies and the solution will be to continue developing more sources of supply.

Mpho further indicated that Letsibogo Dam will ensure security of water supply up to 2015 therefore there was a need for increased sources of water supply hence Dikgatlhong Dam should be connected to the grid by 2012.

'Once Dikgatlhong dam is connected to the pipeline additional villages and other demand centres will be connected to the grid.' He highlighted that given the uncertainty of rainfalls in the country dams are likely to yield less that the anticipated amounts of water at some point hence ground water can be looked at to augment supply.