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The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted the decision by the World Bank to grant a $3.75 billion loan to Eskom for its Medupi power station project and related renewable energy commitments.

COSATU has consistently argued that Eskom and the government should have found alternative ways of raising the money for capital expenditure on new power stations, rather than its succession of massive tariff increases, which are crippling poor households, who pay more per unit that the rich big users who get big, sometimes secret, discounts.

The federation will not therefore oppose loans in principle, as they are one legitimate alternative source of revenue. We agree however with the National Union of Mineworkers' call on both the government and Eskom to make public all the conditions attached to this World Bank loan.

As the NUM says: "Quite often these kinds of loans come with stringent conditions". Indeed the World Bank has a notorious record of using conditional loans, particularly to developing countries, to impose their neoliberal agenda and demand privatisation and opening up of markets to big multinational companies.

COSATU shares the NUM's concern that "the conditions attached to this loan must not open up our energy sector to global competitors who will roll back our desire to electrify all households in South Africa and that they will not impact negatively on empowerment policies".

The federation needs to be certain that there are no conditions which could lead to any form of privatisation, including the introduction of independent power producers into the industry and ending Eskom's monopoly in electricity generation. Should there prove to be any such strings, COSATU will oppose the loan.

We remain opposed to privatisation of the country's basic infrastructure. In Eskom's case it will inevitably lead to even higher tariffs, retrenchments and worse service, as the new owners are driven only by the need to maximise their profits.