The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called on the government to sort out Eskom’s financial woes to save jobs and create new opportunities. Cosatu was reacting to the company Transalloys’ announcement that, due to “unaffordable” higher electricity prices, it was planning to shut down some of its Mpumalanga-based operations – a move that will lead to a retrenchment of about 600 employees and negatively affects an estimated 7 000 livelihoods linked to the smelter and the broader eMalahleni economy via its supply chain. Transalloys is a major producer of manganese ferroalloys on the African continent, operating on the Mpumalanga Highveld.
Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parks, said the organisation was concerned about the announcement as the country has a high unemployment rate. “This is a matter of great concern to Cosatu. With a 42.4% unemployment rate, we can’t afford to see a single worker retrenched.
“We are also deeply concerned about the prospect of losing further smelters and the impact that has on our industrial capacity and downstream jobs,” Parks said. “We are engaging in this matter with the leadership of Eskom, the Presidency and department of trade, industry and competition, as well as other relevant stakeholders. A mutually affordable short-term tariff agreement between Eskom and Transalloys, similar to that reached with Samancor and Glencore, is needed as a matter of urgency.” Parks has urged all parties to expedite engagements and find a mutually affordable tariff agreement.
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As a long-term plan, Eskom needs support from the state to plug its financial leakages from corruption to wasteful expenditure, as well as support to enter the renewable energy space and, most critically, to ensure that all its customers are moved to prepaid meters, he said. “These are key to ending Eskom’s dependence on increasingly unaffordable tariff hikes. If this can be done, it will play a major role in not only saving these jobs and companies but also unlocking economic growth and creating new jobs.”
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