JOHANNESBURG, March 29 – South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday threatened to go on strike at state-run utility Eskom over its plans to mothball five coal-powered stations, a move the union says will lead to thousands of lay offs.
Coal is used to generate the lion’s share of South Africa’s power supply and job cuts are a particularly thorny issue in a country where the unemployment rate is almost 27 percent.
In a speech to parliament on Feb. 10, Zuma said Eskom would sign new renewable energy contracts, angering coal transport workers who staged a protest earlier this month.
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