South Africa faces strike against power tariff hike

Johannesburg: The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the nation's largest labour federation, plans to strike against a government decision to allow state power utility Eskom Holdings Ltd to increase tariffs over the next three years.

The labour group has not decided on a date for the protest though it can't rule out that it will occur during the Fifa World Cup, which the country hosts between June 11 and July 11, Patrick Craven, a union spokesman, said. "Eskom is raising tariffs to fund capital expenditure and we feel that should come from government and not the consumer," said Craven. "We would be prepared to accept tariff increases needed to cover rising running costs but not for capital expenditure. There's no question of targeting the World Cup but we cannot rule it out."

Eskom was allowed to raise tariffs by 24.8 per cent for the year starting in April, 25.8 per cent next year and 25.9 per cent the year after.