Government, business and labour have now officially endorsed the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)’s proposal to use public servants’ pension funds to bail out Eskom.
The social partners, under the banner of the National Economic Development and Labour Council, concluded their two-day meeting on Thursday.
Cosatu wants a special purpose vehicle put together to include the Unemployment Insurance Fund, Public Investment Corporation, the Development Financing Institution and Development Bank of Southern Africa to take over 50% of Eskom’s over R400 billion debt.
Cosatu said it had managed to win over business and government in its quest to save Eskom.
Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “All of the social partners are now on board. Big businesses endorsed our paper. We have also agreed in principle.”
Pamla said this was an important step for the economy.
“We need to ensure that by the end of the month, we need to revisit our way forward and look at what we are putting on the table, as the country, to fix the [problem] that is Eskom. We need to have a coherent plan [and] that plan must be reflected by the president in the budget speech.”
All involved parties are expected to sign an agreement, after which government will start with implementation.