SACP, NUM to march against the alleged privatisation of Eskom

The South African Communist Party (SACP) and the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) are expected to march in Bellville in Cape Town on Saturday against the alleged privatisation of parts of Eskom.

The SACP says it has mobilised the red brigades regarding the planned march to Eskom and the Employment and Labour Department.

SACP provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu says the march is also about the inaccessibility of the offices of the department in the rural parts of the province.

“The SACP supports NUM’s call that unbundling of Eskom must be stopped because they want to use unbundling as a basis to privatise Eskom.

“Workers at Eskom must be given their fifteen percent wage increase, the management at Eskom must stop attacking shop stewards, those are parts of the demands the SACP supports,” says Ngqentsu.

Nersa accused of misrepresenting its application for the 2023 Financial Year:

Meanwhile, independent energy analyst Ted Blom said Eskom wants to strong-arm the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to agree to unsustainable tariff increases, which will place a further burden on consumers.

Blom said the power utility abused the Multi-Year Price Determination (MYPD) methodology in its early years of inception, to unfairly and disproportionately increase electricity tariffs.

This after Eskom accused Nersa of misrepresenting its revenue application by including matters that are still under consideration by the court and Nersa itself.

NERSA published Eskom’s fifth Multi-Year Price Determination revenue application for the 2023-2025 financial years.

In a statement, Eskom said its application for a 20.5% tariff increase only applied for one year, not three years as published by NERSA.