South African unions to oppose privatising power utility Eskom

JOHANNESBURG – South African labour unions said on Thursday they will oppose a proposal to partially privatise power utility Eskom limiting options for the government to shore up the cash-strapped firm and resolve an energy crisis.

The Treasury said on Wednesday it was asked by a government-appointed commission tasked with finding a solution to the crisis to look into several options, including a proposal to partially privatise Eskom or sell some of its assets in order to secure further funding to expand generating capacity.

But the unions see any form of privatisation as a threat to jobs and efforts to extend access to the grid to more black South Africans.

“We don’t support the privatisation of Eskom. It is a strategic company that has a key mandate to electrify the country. We don’t believe it should be in the hands of the private market,” said Castro Ngobese, a spokesman for the National Union of Metalworkers, which represents many workers at the utility.

The National Union of Mineworkers, which also has members at Eskom, said in a statement “any intention whatsoever to sell Eskom or part of Eskom will be resisted. Eskom is not for sale.”

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party would comment once the proposal was sent to the party for policy discussion, its secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.

However, Mantashe said last November that privatisation of electricity supply was “not a panacea”.

South Africa’s public enterprises minister, Lynne Brown, who oversees state-owned Eskom, said she too was not in favour of privatising basic services such as electricity.