Trade union Cosatu has started mobilising its members for possible rolling mass action to protest Eskom's 25% electricity increase for the next three years. Addressing Metalworkers Union Numsa's Eastern Cape congress in Port Elizabeth today, Cosatu general secretary Zwelenzima Vavi said the country could not afford such a huge increase and that thousands of jobs would be lost.

Vavi warned that the situation had to be resolved before the start of the Soccer World Cup in June. “The people who are really interested in finding a solution must approach us now before the mobilisation goes too far and it starts running at its own speed that even our leadership will not be able to control,” he added.

On a separate issue, Cosatu says President Jacob Zuma should fire his political advisors and his communications team for failing to guide him through a series of what it calls 'PR nightmares' that has plunged his presidency into a crisis. Cosatu president S'dumo Dlamini says recent developments on whether President Zuma  should disclose his financial interests was another example in a series of public relations shambles by the men around the president.