The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has rejected a claim by energy utility Eskom that fractious labour relations and intermittent strike action had delayed the Medupi coal-fired power plant build programme by several months.

“Their attempt to blame the crisis of electricity on the workers is not new…the fault [lies with] Eskom and the contractors. If there was no cronyism, we wouldn’t have this situation,” Numsa general-secretary Irvin Jim told journalists at a briefing to discuss the outcomes of the union’s ongoing central committee meeting, on Thursday.

His comments came a day after the State-owned power firm revealed that Medupi would only reach its full generation capacity by 2021 – exceeding the initial 2013 target by eight years – and two weeks after the union embarked on mass strike action at the Medupi build site, in Limpopo, stalling development of the project.

Jim reiterated that the union’s members would not return to work until their demands related to accommodation and wages were met, thus defying a court order obtained by Eskom contractors last week compelling them to return to site.

“There is no proper housing for the workers, as they are staying in hostels and they are also unhappy with the food. These are issues that should have been dealt with as part of the previous deal, but the contractors have demonstrated that they have no respect for prior agreements,” he outlined at the union’s headquarters, in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Jim added that the workers’ demands “were not insurmountable” and that the union continued engagements with Eskom and the contractors.

“As long as we have arrogant people [in power], there will be strikes… and we want workers to be treated fairly. We first want the issues addressed before they come back,” he commented.

Further expounding on the outcomes of its four-day central committee meeting, Numsa said it officially rejected Eskom’s load-shedding policy and its proposed tariff increases and called for the utility to open its books for public scrutiny.

“We must see the details of Eskom’s contracts for fuel, Medupi [invoices] and bonuses paid to executive management.

“The books must be opened down to the last detail so that we can see for ourselves what has been happening at Eskom. We must be directly involved,” said Jim.

He also called for a Numsa representative to be appointed to the Eskom board to ensure that workers’ interests were protected at the executive level.

Further, Numsa rejected the appointment of Dr Ben Ngubane as interim chairperson of the Eskom board, calling for his immediate withdrawal and describing him as a “discredited man” owing to his time on the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

“We also have no confidence in [newly appointed Eskom acting CEO] Brian Molefe…as Numsa’s experience with [him] is a terrible one and we know him as a union basher,” Jim noted.

The union, meanwhile, revealed that it planned to forge ahead with the creation of a “Marxist-Leninist revolutionary working class” political party – the United Front – which it planned to launch in June.

The committee had mandated the regional and provincial office bearers to coordinate and run workshops to debate the nature and form of the party, which would be driven by the aspirations of the working class.

“This will be a democratic process, as we want workers to play a part in creating the party,” outlined Jim.

Numsa also took the opportunity to “unreservedly” condemn the recent xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg and Durban, attributing these to the lack of radical implementation of the Freedom Charter by the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party.

“It is the failure of government to make fundamental changes to the economy and transform the lives of all South Africans that is at the heart of xenophobia and its violence,” he averred.