COSATU notes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assenting to the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assenting to the Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill.  The essence of the ERA Act is to provide for the unbundling or separation of Eskom into three separate companies.

COSATU remains deeply concerned about Eskom’s unbundling, including recent announcements of the establishment of its Transmission Company and thus has been opposed to the ERA Act.

Eskom is facing multiple crises because of endemic corruption, endless wasteful expenditure, rampant cable theft, ill equipped and constantly exiting management, and years of underinvestment in infrastructure.  It is not in a crisis because it has been a single public utility.  Its solutions rest upon addressing its fundamental crises and not restructuring its corporate shape or creating additional boards.  Eskom’s remarkable revival over the past year has taken place precisely because of a focus on the above-mentioned fundamentals despite its remaining a single utility.

Separating Eskom into three utilities will create additional board and management costs when Eskom can least afford it.  We believe it may fragment and weaken Eskom’s ability to plan its generation, transmission and distribution investments or exercise the requisite command and control. 

Workers fear Eskom’s unbundling may be a precursor to its possible future privatisation and the impact this may have on jobs and electricity tariffs for working class communities.

COSATU will continue working with its Affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers, to raise workers’ concerns with government and Parliament and to engage with it on solutions to support the continued rebuilding and restoring of Eskom as the engine of South Africa’s economic growth and industrial development.

Issued by COSATU

For further comment, please contact:

Matthew Parks(COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Cell: 082 785 0687