“Following a productive meeting earlier [on Tuesday] between Eskom and union leadership, Eskom can confirm that it has agreed in principle with the recognised labour unions on the way forward in the wage talks on Friday at the Central Bargaining Forum.

“Following this agreement, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) have urged their members to return to work immediately,” Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday.

Due to the strike workers embarked in, up to 90% of staff could not or did not report for duty leading to power utility to implement Stage 6 load shedding on Tuesday. On Wednesday the Power Utility expected all workers to return to work and avoid such implementations. However it has been reported that the workers are after Numsa and Num.

“Eskom also wishes to urge all employees to return to their workstations immediately to relieve the pressure on the system and to deliver the service the people of South Africa expect from Eskom, and to assist in restoring generation performance impacted by the strike.

“Eskom would also like to pay tribute and thank those many employees who keep going beyond the call of duty and continue to help the keep the lights on during this very challenging time,” the power utility said.

Although workers have returned to work as instructed, load sheddings are far from over, and it Stage 6 might be here to stay.