Large parts of Nelson Mandela Bay, particularly Motherwell, were in the dark for several days because electricity faults had not been attended to due to a labour dispute between workers and management over the city’s decision to stop paying a scarce-skills allowance.

The dispute is not a new one; it is a matter that crops up every few years as the municipality tries to do away with paying a scarce-skills allowance for electricity workers, and the workers refuse to accept the decision...