Eskom’s former finance director, Paul O’Flaherty, caused a stir on his final day at the state-owned enterprise when he slammed the construction sector, blaming it for the delays in the construction of the Medupi Power Station.

O’Flaherty laid into contractors, blaming them for failing to employ skilled labour and not supervising them properly.

Speaking on Redi Tlhabi’s show on Talk Radio 702 on 11 July, O’Flaherty said: “The ability of our contractors to supervise labour has been poor across the board. They have to adequately train the person to do the job and supervise them.

“Supervision of labour is not Eskom’s responsibility. Without Eskom playing a leadership role, we’re just not getting the job done. Our appeal to labour is to get the full production out and contractors need to come to the party.

“The way people are set up on site and the way labour is trained, supervised and treated is just not acceptable.

“No one wins in this current situation and I believe that if the workforce at Medupi is given the right direction and proper training then the power station will come online.

O’Flaherty tendered his resignation in November and had to serve a six-month notice period, during which the government and Eskom’s board acknowledged they tried to get him to rescind his resignation. O’Flaherty had been responsible for raising funds for Eskom’s infrastructure expenditure programme.