TimesLIVE reports that the message of Cosatu's first deputy-president Michael Shingange on Tuesday was that the government had failed to act against those responsible for the electricity crisis, meaning that thousands of workers would now lose their jobs.  

He was speaking at a gathering outside parliament and said that the proposed unbundling of Eskom would result in privatisation and massive job losses in the country’s largest state-owned enterprise.  Police estimated that about 1,500 people from different trade unions gathered to protest about the rescue plans for Eskom announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his state of the nation address.  Ramaphosa announced that Eskom would be split into three separate entities.  Shingane said Eskom needed to be saved, but not at the expense of workers.  "To us the unbundling of Eskom is equal to privatisation, it's equal to job dislocation, it’s equal to making electricity unaffordable to our people," said Shingane.  The protesters handed a memorandum to the national assembly’s deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli in which they raised concerns about retrenchments across the public and private sectors.

• Read Aron Hyman’s report in the above regard in full at TimesLIVE

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