NUM vows to march to ANC NEC meeting over plans to unbundle Eskom

NUM says that it plans to march to the upcoming meeting of the ANC’s NEC as the union is opposed to the unbundling of Eskom. Picture: Getrude Makhafola/ANA

Johannesburg - Following its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last week, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it plans to march to the upcoming meeting of the ANC’s NEC as the union is opposed to the unbundling of Eskom. 

David Sipunzi, NUM General Secretary, said that the ruling party’s decision to unbundle troubled power utility opens it up to be milked of millions through the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). 

“In the process of engaging Eskom on these matters, we realised that by shouting at the Eskom board and management, we are barking at the wrong tree. The real culprit is the ANC government, our government that we put to power and is now in the business of destroying jobs in order to appease the so-called rating agencies and investors.

“Who are these Independent Power Producers who are so ruthless and greedy? As NUM, we agreed early this year to suspend action against the unbundling of Eskom so as to allow the general election process to go smoothly,” said Sipunzi.

He said that with the government intent to go ahead with the power utility’s unbundling the union feels obliged to intensify its opposition to the government’s move. 

“When your car has a troublesome engine, you don’t break the car into three pieces. You either fix the engine or buy a new one and fit it into the same car. Why break Eskom instead of fixing what is wrong? 

“The unbundling of Eskom into three separate entities is going to create three separate boards, three new CEOs, three new CFOs and so forth. Is this cost cutting or further bloating the workforce at the highest level at the expense of lowly paid workers?” Sipunzi asked. 

He said that compounding matters was the fact that Eskom had recently created a position for Chief Operations Officer and a Chief Restructuring Officers but they still spoke of a bloated workforce.