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- The National Union of Mineworkers has called for the resignation of the Eskom CEO and COO and the disbandment of the board.
- The union accused the board and executives of destroying the utility.
- Amongst its demands, the NUM wants a 15% wage increase for its members and has objected to Eskom's unbundling and the premature closure of coal plants.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had called Eskom management step down over the alleged mismanagement of the utility.
In a demonstration outside of Megawatt Park on Saturday, the union demanded the disbandment of the Eskom board; the resignation of the CEO Andre De Ruyter and the COO Jan Oberholzer.
NUM, in a memorandum, said its members had gathered to call for a change in the direction that is taken by the shareholders, the board and the executive of Eskom which is destroying Eskom and has left the country in darkness.
“Since the arrival of De Ruyter the performance of Eskom has drastically dropped [and] resulted in the implementation of load shedding which is devastating to our economy,” the memorandum said. “De Ruyter does not have a will to serve Eskom. He is on record saying that Eskom is a dead horse. He does not have a sound turnaround strategy … De Ruyter is neither technical nor visionary. Eskom is too big for the current Eskom board, the executives and De Ruyter. South Africa has capable men and woman who can run Eskom efficiently and profitably.”
Amongst its list of demands, the union also called for the conditions of service for its members be reinstated immediately.
In July Eskom unilaterally implemented a 1.5% wage offer to non-managerial employees, despite arbitration proceedings not having been concluded. As part of the offer, Eskom changed the conditions of services and adjusted various benefits such as travel and overtime. The NUM further called for a 15% wage increase for its members.
The union has also demanded to stop to the proposed early closure of some Eskom power plants in return for green funding. The NUM described this as “economic sabotage”. The proposal was developed under De Ruyter and proved advantageous at the recent UN Climate Change Conference (Cop26) where South Africa secured a historic R130 billion climate funding deal. The union is also opposed to the unbundling of the utility into three separate business units, which it described as a move designed to open up the electricity market to the private sector and so is a “precursor to privatisation”.
The union also objected to the proposed expansion of independent power production and has called for a review of existing power purchase agreements [PPA] which “seek to sink Eskom deeper into financial crisis and if nothing is done to avert this unfortunate policy decision”, the memorandum said.
