ANA reports that the special Cabinet committee on Eskom will hold more meetings with organised labour to discuss the contentious restructuring of the struggling power utility into three units.
In a statement issued on Thursday about its meeting on Wednesday where Deputy President David Mabuza reported on the committee's engagements, Cabinet indicated: "The meeting with labour reported on the problems with Eskom’s operations and generation system, maintenance and unplanned outages. The meeting sought to establish a basis for formal future consultations. The restructuring of Eskom was also discussed, and all parties agreed that there would be more interactions to better understand the roadmap and the implications of separating Eskom’s business divisions into three separate operating entities." The plan to split up Eskom was announced in President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address and saw the National Union of Mineworkers threaten to withhold its support for the ruling party in the May elections. According to the unions, the restructuring will result in job losses. Cabinet said Mabuza, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom chairman Jabu Mabuza met with the "leadership of three unions recognised by Eskom", but did not give further details. The recognised unions are the NUM, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and Solidarity. Numsa has vehemently rejected Ramaphosa's plan as a first step towards privatisation.
- Read the full original of the report on the above at Business Report
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