Cape Town – Powerful economic and financial factions in government and the private sector are fighting to wrestle energy control from the state by privatising Eskom, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA says.
“We view the machinations that tend to confirm that Eskom is badly managed by the state, and the current reckless decisions to ensure that the credit ratings downgrade Eskom’s credit ratings all ploys to fast track the privatisation of Eskom,” Numsa general secretary, Irvin Jim, said in a statement to the media.
READ: S&P downgrades Eskom to junk
“The recklessness and unceremonious suspensions of the four executives at Eskom have simply added more fuel to the already existing public perception that Eskom is riddled with deep seated systemic, structural, organisational, administrative and financial crises,” he said.
On Wednesday the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) confirmed that a referral was received from suspended Eskom CEO, Tshediso Matona, relating to unfair suspension. On Thursday Matona appeared in the Labour Court to challenge his suspension.
READ: Judgment reserved in Matona suspension case - as it happened
Meanwhile about 20 000 workers at Eskom's Medupi power plant have been locked out of the construction site on Thursday following a one-day strike over poor living conditions and higher pay, a union official told Reuters.
Steve Nhlapo, head of collective bargaining for Numsa told Reuters "the company decided to lock workers out. The site is closed, around 20 000 workers are off site".
READ: Numsa: Workers locked out of Medupi site
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said this was untrue. He told Fin24 that about 5 000 workers - including engineers - were inside Medupi working on synchronising the units, adding that the power station was not on a lock down.
He said the contractors' workers who participated in the illegal strike action on Wednesday were currently engaging with their managers.
“We’re currently engaging with the contractors and also the unions … in an effort to find a solution to the issues that were raised by the unions,” said Phasiwe. “The unions want feedback by tomorrow.”
On Wednesday Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa told MPs that barring any unexpected delays Medupi's unit six is due to provide full power to the grid by mid-2015.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa: Medupi’s first unit online from mid-year