Building a new Eskom: Fully Public and Serving the People
28 February 2019 | 17:30 – 20:00 | 129 Rochester Road, Observatory (CPT)
The crisis at ESKOM must not be used to further liberalise and privatise the energy sector. The proposal to break-up ESKOM into different companies WILL lead to greater privatisation of the energy sector. Electricity will become more expensive and jobs will be lost. Another strategy is possible and necessary. A “New Eskom” is necessary. Eskom must remain publicly owned, but it must be radically transformed and the process of corporatization and marketization that began in the late 1980s must be reversed. AIDC together with NUMSA, NUM and other trade unions, supported by Trade Unions for Energy Democracy and Transnational Institute are developing proposals for addressing the crisis of ESKOM in ways that enhance energy democracy and a just transition to a low carbon development path.
Our public forum offers an opportunity to engage with our analysis of the crisis and the solutions that are available which enhance public ownership, accountability and democratic control of ESKOM.
Speakers:
Dr. Sean Sweeney
Coordinator at Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) a global network of 69 unions from 23 countries. TUED is a program of the School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
Ruth Ntlokotse [TBC]
Second Deputy President at National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
Dr. Daniel Chavez
Fellow at Transnational Institute (TNI), Amsterdam
Sandra Van Niekerk
Coordinator of the Alternatives to Extractivism and Climate Change Programme at the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
Please RSVP to greg@aidc.org.za / 021 4475770 by 26 February 2019
I am of the opinion that Eskom should never be privatized but should rather invest in the different energy mix (fossil, Nuclear and clean energy), why did Eskom abandon the pebble modular reactor (nuclear projects). Eskom should never be for profit but its focus should be on development, as things stand South Africa is one of the unequal society in the world, where one finds the gap between the poor and the reach too wide and growing further away, and also wealth is gathered mainly into one section of a certain community. Unemployment is said to be around 27% but I doubt the real figures hover around 40%, and a large portion of those people who are employed earn below the breadline, now who will afford the exorbitant fees that go with privatization? only about 20% of the employed. I suspect that the current leadership in government is also captured (by the west, not the east), one suspects the hastiness and swift manner the government is moving towards privatization (Signing those PPI agreements)and its failure to consult with unions on this matter (consultation is not enough but fullscale engagement).