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Friday, May 15, 2015
Rumors of South Africa taking Eskom private have caused a furor, and not a very positive one. The country’s National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metalworkers have both come out against any form of privatization of the state utility. The union, which both have workers at Eskom, see this as a threat to their workers.
On May 13 the country’s treasury revealed that it was considering either partially privatizing the utility. There was also talk last year regarding privatizing the firm in order to plug a funding gap but the government shelved those plans until recently.
“We don’t support the privatization of Eskom. It is a strategic company that has a key mandate to electrify the country. We don’t believe it should be in the hands of the private market,” said Castro Ngobese, a spokesman for the National Union of Metalworkers, which represents many workers at the utility.
Meanwhile a statement from the National Union of Mineworkers said “any intention whatsoever to sell Eskom or part of Eskom will be resisted. Eskom is not for sale.”
South Africa’s public enterprises minister, Lynne Brown, is not in favor of privatization either. “I actually don’t really believe we should have privatization when it comes to basic services … (however) there are parts of what we own that could go to a strategic partner, but when it comes to basic services I am not in favor,” Brown told reporters in response to a question on the possible privatization of Eskom.
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