DA consulting lawyers to stop pension funds going to Eskom

4 March 2020

Note to Editors: Please find attached a video recording by the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, Natasha Mazzone MP. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is consulting our lawyers on our legal options to stop the ANC government from using pension funds to bail out Eskom.

The DA will do everything in our power to stop this from happening - even if we have to go to the highest court in the land.

Eskom is a big, black pit that is incapable of delivering secure and stable energy to South Africans. It is unconscionable that President Ramaphosa would pander to the ideas of trade unions to flush pension funds down an endless hole of debt.

The President was quoted telling the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) yesterday that “[pension] funds shouldn’t be too fearful, we’ve got an Eskom journey ahead”. 

The only journey that Eskom has ahead is the one towards its inevitable collapse.

The President further went on to state that “[even] private pension funds, we would like them to also put their money into Eskom."

 It is clear that the ANC doesn't only want to use pension funds of government employees to bail out Eskom, they now also want to go after the pension funds of private sector workers. 

In either case, the ANC’s plans are immoral and irrational.  

Why should hard-working South Africans lose a lifetime worth of savings to save a sinking ship? 

Why is President Ramaphosa set on condemning hundreds of thousands of South Africans to poverty by having Eskom swallow up their pension funds?

The DA cannot in good conscience sit back and watch as the ANC places the whims and wills of factions and trade unions ahead of the interests and futures of ordinary South Africans. 

We will not stand for it.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone,Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, 4 March 2020