Renewable energy: NUMSA is sabotaging SA

14 March 2018

The announcement that the government and Eskom complied with NUMSA’s demand to once again delay the signing of renewable energy contracts means that they are sabotaging South Africa’s economy and the environment.

The union alleges that jobs will be lost and that consumers will have to pay more for electricity if the contracts are signed and renewable energy becomes part of the country’s power grid.

Both allegations are false, but that is not what is of importance here. The oldest coal-fired power plants are fifty years old and have already exceeded their expected operational time. It leads to, amongst other things, serious air pollution that results in incalculable costs relating to respiratory diseases in people and acid rain that damages infrastructure.

Climate change is generally ascribed to excess carbon dioxide emissions in the environment. And generating power by means of burning coal is one of the most prominent contributing factors in this regard. 

Truth be told, the price of renewable energy technology is falling so rapidly at the moment that consumers with access to the power grid are already benefiting from generating their own electricity, particularly in sunny provinces like the Northern Cape.

NUMSA is not only trying to prevent the inevitable, but they are also trying to keep South Africa in bondage to expensive and polluting means of generating power. The FF Plus is convinced that their attempt will not pass the test of the law – in which NUMSA seems to be placing its trust.

Issued by Wynand Boshoff, FF Plus provincial leader in the Northern Cape and spokesperson on Energy, 14 March 2018