Bloomberg reports that the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, Joseph Montisetse, said on Wednesday in an interview that the union was against any plan to split power utility Eskom into three units because it would result in job losses.  

He maintained that the company could return to profit by investing in coal mining, exporting the fuel and selling more electricity to SA’s neighbours.  This was said prior to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation (Sona) address on Thursday in which he was expected to unveil new measures to help Eskom.  In February, the president announced the plan to divide the company into generation, transmission and distribution units.  He also vowed to avoid cutting jobs, despite Eskom having about 47,000 workers, a figure the World Bank has said was 66% too high, and debt of at least R440 billion.  The NUM was prepared to hear what Ramaphosa had to say in his speech, but so far “we are not happy with what the president has promised’’ in terms of job security, Montisetse said.  “We don’t believe the unbundling can be a cure for this disease,’’ he opined, adding that they wanted a total bailout for the utility and a new board in order to make the business profitable again.  Montisetse also opined that the stations could be rebuilt in order to extend their lives.  “We can’t agree for our members to be cut from work.  We believe that we need a credible management to hire even more people,” he observed.

• Read the full original of Paul Burkhardt’s report in the above regard at Moneyweb

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page