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The Congress of South African Trade Unions fully supports its affiliated union the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on their planned protest march to ESKOM Head Office Megawatt Park on the 11th of December 2021. The Federation is opposed to the unbundling and privatisation of Eskom.   

The power utility is the lifeblood of our economy, and we remain adamant that it should remain in the hands of the state. The economy needs reliable and affordable energy supply for it to recover. The current and ongoing load shedding is a risk to jobs and the economy.   

The Federation presented an Eskom Social Compact that presented key intervention areas to stabilise and rebuild Eskom.  These key components include ensuring the security of workers’ jobs, tackling corruption and wasteful expenditure, and holding the culprits to account.  

The federation reiterates its call for all Eskom contracts to be reviewed to ensure that they are legal and affordable.  

We also want clear just transition processes to be put in place to ensure that coal power stations and mines reaching the end of their life span are managed properly and workers are given the necessary support. This is critical to ensure that workers are not retrenched, and communities not devastated  

Eskom cannot continue being a burden to the state and an obstacle to economic growth but also, we will never accept the privatisation of the power utility. A functional Eskom is important to drive the recovery of South Africa’s economy and the region’s industrialization.  

We call on all our members to support the NUM march on Saturday to ensure that the voice of the workers is heard.   

Issued by COSATU