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Eskom soccer shirt spree angers

Johannesburg - Thousands of Eskom employees are walking around in expensive 2010 FIFA World Cup shirts, after the national energy supplier forked out nearly R1.5m for the high-priced fashion items at R600 a piece.

Trade unions are upset at the latest extravagance, which comes on the heels of Eskom’s R12.6m spending spree on Would Cup tickets.

On Friday the company confirmed that it had bought shirts worth R500 000 and distributed them among certain employees.

A further amount of R976 200 had been spent on refunding employees who had bought their own shirts at a price of R600 each.

Not all Eskom workers had received shirts, the power utility said. 

The shirts were allocated at the discretion of Eskom's divisional heads. The intention was to increase employee morale, which had waned ever since the load-shedding in 2008, declared an Eskom spokesperson.

Eskom’s trade unions say they are not at all happy with the wastage of money on shirts and tickets.

National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka says the unions never agreed to this expenditure. Thousands of shirts had been bought with taxpayers' money without union approval.

Earlier this year Eskom finance director Paul O’Flaherty said that the average Eskom worker’s salary was R37 000 a month.

- Sake24.com

For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com.
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