NUM CONGRESS
IPPs deal returns to haunt ANC as union meets
The National Union of Mineworkers has threatened to review its support for the ANC’s elections if the IPP programme is not scrapped
The government’s signing of the independent power producers (IPPs) agreement earlier in 2018 will come back to haunt it. Members of the National Union of Mineworkers on Tuesday said their congress, which kicks off on Wednesday, will decide on how to "punish" the ANC for what it calls "anti-worker" policies. The union has suggested it would review its support for the ANC’s elections if the government did not scrap the IPP programme. The government contends the IPPs will help create 60,000 jobs, while the unions argue they would lead to the loss of 40,000 coal miners and other contract jobs. The NUM has been shedding members in the mining sector since 2012, mostly as a result of its internal weaknesses and mass retrenchments. The union’s elective national congress will also serve as a platform for the discussion of a South African Communist Party resolution to explore contesting elections on its own. The subject has caused fierce debate within union federation Cosatu, with some of its...
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