The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) urges parties to expedite negotiations to save 5 200 direct jobs in Maputo, Mozambique, and 22 000 indirect downstream jobs in South Africa linked to Mozal. It is critical that the owners of Mozal; South 32, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Mozambican government, working with Eskom and the South African government pull out all stops to ensure a mutually affordable new electricity tariff regime is secured before the end of the current agreement in March 2025.
South Africa and Mozambique cannot afford to lose this critical economic asset, including its potentially being mothballed, nor can we afford to shed such a massive number of industrial jobs when facing already dangerously high levels of unemployment.
We welcome interventions by the South African Presidency and the Minister for Electricity and Energy, Dr. K. Ramokgopa as well as Eskom to find solutions with the owners of Mozal. We are confident that with the necessary will and compromises by all parties that an agreement can be found as has recently been concluded with Samancor Chrome and Glencore-Merafe Chrome.
Whilst breathing space and an affordable new tariff agreement is a necessity to enable the continued operations of Mozal, a package of short-, medium- and long-term interventions are needed to enable Eskom to provide more affordable tariffs to the economy and all consumers, whilst simultaneously ensuring its own sustainability.
Key to finding a sustainable long-term solution is to provide Eskom with the necessary support to plug its many financial holes, from corruption to wasteful expenditure, from cable theft to infrastructure vandalism, and most critically to ensuring that all Eskom and municipal electricity consumers are moved to pre-paid meters. This needs to include a comprehensive package of interventions to arrest the crisis of municipal debt owed to Eskom currently nearing R100 billion and increasing at an alarming rate of R20 billion per annum.
Eskom cannot be sustained or end its dependence upon unaffordable above inflation tariff hikes, unless all consumers pay for electricity consumed. We can no longer continue to ignore this existential crisis. Increased daily revenue will enable Eskom and municipalities to increase the allocation of free electricity to indigent households whilst ramping up maintenance and investments in new generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Key to unlocking the economy and achieving the 3% growth rate necessary to slashing unemployment, is an affordable electricity tariff regime. Working- and middle-class families too need to see the price of electricity become affordable once again. Lower prices will help workers take care of their families’ needs and see more money spent stimulating economic growth. This is a matter that requires urgent solutions and prioritisation by the most senior leadership of government and industry.
Issued by COSATU
Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)
Mobile: 082 785 0687
Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za
