BL Premium writes that trade union federation Cosatu is pushing for a series of economic interventions, alongside its plan to help stabilise the finances of beleaguered power utility Eskom.  

These include increased wealth taxes; reductions in the public sector wage bill — including through wage caps for parastatal management; the expansion of the Reserve Bank’s mandate; and broader discussion on using prescribed assets to support industrial strategy.  The proposals, including critically the plan to save Eskom through a debt rescue package led by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), were put to the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to garner “broad political support” for the package ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address and the upcoming budget.  Cosatu took a swipe at the Treasury’s economic strategy document championed by finance minister Tito Mboweni, calling for the removal from it of “antiworker” proposals.  Cosatu wants “the giant in the room”, Eskom, to be dealt with urgently, according to parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks.  It is proposing a debt package to reduce Eskom’s debt from R450bn to R200bn through a special-purpose vehicle backed by the government, the PIC and development finance institutions such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).  Cosatu also wants to see a range of other steps introduced that it believes will help address economic growth, unemployment and the state’s dire fiscal position.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lynley Donnelly at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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