By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert
Come next month, Eskom employees will be smiling a bit more as all non-managerial employees will see a 7% salary increase for the next three years.
Chief economist of the Efficient Group Dawie Roodt, said he is shocked at this news, especially as the utility already has existing debt of about R420 billion.
“I am shocked to the core. They are increasing salaries when they have existing debt. We’ve got something like 45,000 people getting paid by Eskom and they are getting increases well ahead of the inflation rate in South Africa while many millions of South Africans are losing their jobs,” he explained.
Roodt further said when government provided financial relief to Eskom, the agreement was that excessive wage increases won’t be allowed, and neither will the utility be able to borrow money.
“The minister of finance Enoch Godongwana during his budget speech made it clear that no excessive wage increase should be approved, yet here we are with a 7% increase for the next three years, while we are still experiencing continuous stages of loadshedding,” he said.
When asked who will foot the bill, Roodt said the taxpayer and consumer is likely to feel the pinch.
“We will all feel this as South Africans as we will all have to fork out more money at some stage. It’s safe to say that another electricity increase can be expected soon,” he added.
Eskom has since stated that the wage increase was a calculated move, so that the power utility can focus more of its attention on dealing with the loadshedding issues.
“This will avoid wage negotiations for the next few years. The collective agreement will go a long way in stabilising our organisation by providing Eskom with sufficient space and time to collaboratively work together, to urgently address our most pressing challenges,” said Eskom interim spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.
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