Amateur radio operators offered on Thursday to step in if monitoring of shipping emergency calls is affected by a Telkom strike.
The strike, by staff at Telkom’s maritime radio facility in Milnerton, Cape Town, is set to start at midnight.
Hans van de Groenendaal, spokesperson for the South African Radio League, said the league had contacted rescue authorities to offer its services.
He said members routinely monitored the amateur frequencies used by yachts in South African waters, and had in the past alerted authorities to boats in distress.
Monitoring all shipping frequencies would simply be an extension of this.
The league counts about 1 400 radio amateurs nationwide as members.
Earlier on Thursday, lawyers for trade union Solidarity were on standby to fight a threatened bid by Telkom to interdict the strike.
Though Solidarity has suggested the strike could affect monitoring of and reaction to distress calls, Telkom says it has made contingency plans. — Sapa