Eskom: unions worry about job losses

LABOUR unions have raised concerns that Eskom is heading for privatisation following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the power utility will be split into three entities.

During the State of the Nation Address last night, Ramaphosa announced that Eskom would be split into three separate entities – generation, transmission and distribution – all under Eskom Holdings.

He said this would be done to “bring credibility to the turnaround and to position South Africa’s power sector for the future”.

However, National Union of Metalworkers spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said splitting Eskom would cost jobs.

“We know from our previous experiences that those types of arrangements lead to job losses. We are going to analyse this to see how it will affect our members and workers in general. We are opposed to any break-up of Eskom because this is a gateway to privatisation, which is what we are always rejecting,” said Hlubi-Majola.

KwaZulu-Natal Congress of SA Trade Unions secretary Edwin Mkhize said Ramaphosa had not addressed the challenges facing Eskom to the federation’s expectations.

“He is putting it in a very sophisticated way where he speaks of splitting and independent entities.

“That is the challenge we are facing, as much as he is talking about addressing challenges facing Eskom, but he is still emphasising IPP (Independent Power Producers) which are some of what is causing problems at Eskom.

“The move is to render Eskom incapable to deliver so that you can privatise the entity,” said Mkhize.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse chief executive Wayne Duvenage said Ramaphosa’s speech was encouraging in terms of tackling the perpetrators of corruption.

“One wonders why it had to take a commission for the government to realise the depth of corruption, while the public has known all along,” he said.