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Press Statement, 26 May 2022

NUM is disgusted with the decision taken by the Mpumalanga government to convene an energy summit without inviting the NUM

The National Union of Mineworkers is utterly disgusted and perturbed by the behavior of the Mpumalanga Government after they convened the Mpumalanga Energy Summit in Emalahleni without inviting the NUM. 

The Mpumalanga Government under the Premiership of Refilwe Mtshweni Tsipane convened the Mpumalanga Energy Summit in Emalahleni, but saw no purpose to inviting the NUM.

"The NUM learnt about this Summit through social media, a clear indication of how the Mpumalanga Government can undermine the NUM. There shouldn't be any summit/talks about Just Energy transition without involving the key stakeholder which is the NUM. NUM is directly affected by the reckless and hasty decision of the World Bank and IMF to discontinue the Generation of Electricity through Coal Fired Power Stations," said Bizzah Motubatse, NUM Highveld Regional Chairperson. 

What is more perplexing is that Mpumalanga Government which is under the ANC led government, the ANC that is having an alliance with our federation COSATU invited ESKOM CEO, but decided not to invite NUM which is the majority Union in ESKOM. 

The behavior of the Mpumalanga Government reminded the NUM of the words of Oliver Tambo when he said, "The ANC is a big movement, in it you will find people who are working hard to be seen by the world forgetting about the basic needs of our people." 

The Mpumalanga Government is delusional if they believed that the Energy Summit could emerge with concrete and coherent resolutions without involving the NUM. 

The NUM is calling for the Mpumalanga Government not to undermine the NUM. We want to make it categorically clear that we are at the center of defending the jobs of our members. We will never allow proponents of the IMF to do as they wish and turn a Province of Mpumalanga into a shallow and hollow Province.

Furthermore the NUM would like to denounce the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between Mpumalanga Government and Eskom, there is nothing about us without us. If need be, the NUM will mobilize all its structures to confront this Mpumalanga Government that seems to be directionless and suffering from a colossal failure of the negative impact that will affect Mpumalanga post the closure of Power Stations. 

We would have liked the Energy Summit to focus on how as a province we can assist the country to stop the nightmare of Load Shedding. We have Units in Hendrina and Komati that must be commissioned because they were put on cold reserve by ESKOM. 

We agree with the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe when he correctly said that, "there's no need for the county to be subjected to this torture of loadshedding while units are being switched off by Eskom."

For more information, please contact: 

Malekutu Bizzah Motubatse, NUM Highveld Regional Chairperson, 082 264 6533