The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐น๐๐ถ-๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐น๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ-๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ The plan calls for the unbundling and dismantling of Eskom and the privatisation of energy provision.
The multiparty coalition’s plan to unbundle, dismantle Eskom, and privatise the energy provision comes as no surprise. The coalition is a stokvel of economic liberals who think the so-called “free market” will solve the problems of society. Hence, in point 6 of their plan, they aim to “establish a competitive electricity supply market where multiple electricity producers can compete on an open platform”.
Furthermore, the free market is also presented as a silver bullet to the investments the National Treasury advances into Eskom, which are wrongly and mischievously called bailouts. They assert that the โopen electricity marketโ will put behind us โendless bailoutsโ to Eskom. This is simply not true. The government is already underwriting the private companies in the generation market financially, with the value of the guarantees over R277 billion.
Despite unobjectionable proof spanning over 200 years of capitalism that the “free” market is incapable of organising a prosperous society for all, the economic liberals in our political and economic system continue to mislead the public about the root causes of scarcity, deprivation, a stagnating economy, unemployment, load shedding, and poverty.
We contend that the rolling electricity blackouts were not essentially caused by the fact that Eskom is a publicly owned company and holds a monopoly in generation, but because its crisis was engineered when it was prevented from building additional generation capacity to meet the growing demand that came with the democratic transformation, giving access to the 80% of the population that was previously disadvantaged from accessing electricity under apartheid. Economic liberals engineered that prohibition under the leadership of the former President, Thabo Mbeki, who had sought to introduce a “competitive electricity supply” and dismantle Eskomโs monopoly.
The failure of that strategy was met with declining order, meritocracy, and increasing corruption in the state. Combined, they have resulted in Eskom, which was deliberately sabotaged, being looted by corrupt syndicates who sought and continue to enrich themselves through maintenance and diesel procurement. Eskom has consequently accumulated a lot of odious debt on its balance sheet, and fiscal austerity measures from the National Treasury have meant that Eskom is not capitalised. These same parties in the multiparty coalition have repeatedly called for the National Treasury to defund SOEs such as Eskom so that they can bring privatisation as a solution.
It must be noted that their plans are nothing new. The African National Congress (ANC) has already proposed these solutions in the Bill (Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill) tabled before parliament and circulated for comments. Both the multiparty coalition and the ANC are united in the economic policy and solutions they propose for the country, neoliberal capitalism. The only difference is the claim by the multiparty coalition that they are not corrupt.
SAFTU rejects the drive to liberalise the energy generation markets as proposed in the plan, just as we have opposed it in the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill.
๐ญ. ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ (๐ง๐ฆ๐ข)โ SAFTU rejects the creation of the Transmission System Operator (TSO) as it will further the unbundling of ESKOM whilst paving the way for private producers in energy generation.
๐ฎ. ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒโ SAFTU rejects the market structure because it is a basis for private proprietors to play more roles in energy generation, thus privatising the energy provision.
Instead, SAFTU wants a public pathway approach to solving the rolling blackouts. This entails retaining a public ownership monopoly in the energy generation market through Eskom. Public ownership and monopoly are not swear words. As a public utility, Eskom provided the cheapest electricity in the world, which helped attract private investment and helped South Africa to industrialise.
๐ฏ. ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ธ-๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป-๐ข๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณโ SAFTU rejects the risk-return-oriented tariff that accompanies introducing private companies. It seeks to create a profitable tariff for private companies to generate electricity. It is related to cost-reflective tariffs in that they both do not cushion the consumer, but it is worse in that it seek to guarantee profit margins for the private proprietors.
The lingering danger with a profit oriented tariff is that it will increase the energy poverty, which is no longer exacerbated by access to the grid, but by affordability as the standards of living decline with the rising cost of living.
