Busa welcomes union proposals on Eskom
South Africa’s main business-lobby group welcomed proposals by the nation’s biggest labour-union federation to rescue debt-stricken power utility Eskom.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions on Monday presented its plan to the so-called President’s Working Council, which includes government, business and labour leaders. The labour federation has suggested that state-owned institutions take over R254 billion of Eskom’s debt.
Read: Cosatu to present R254bn Eskom rescue plan
“We welcome the constructive approach,” Martin Kingston, vice president of Business Unity South Africa, said by phone Monday. He said that the business community is in alignment with Cosatu on many of Eskom’s problems that the labour federation identified.
Cosatu’s plan would leave Eskom, which provides 95% of South Africa’s electricity, with R200 billion of debt, an amount the utility has previously said it could manage. Eskom is failing to cover its running costs and inadequate maintenance is leading to frequent plant breakdowns and rolling power outages. Those are stalling economic growth.
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