NUM Marches Through Johannesburg Streets Over Eskom Unbundling and Rising Electricity Costs

• Hundreds of National Union of Mineworkers members took to the streets of Johannesburg to push back against plans to unbundle Eskom
• NUM members gathered in Newtown and marched to the Gauteng Premier's Office
• The union is threatening to pull its voter support from the ANC if the government pushes ahead with Eskom's unbundling, which workers say will make electricity unaffordable for ordinary South Africans

Nerissa Naidoo, a journalist at Briefly News since 2024, previously worked as an editor, content creator, researcher, and ghostwriter before joining the team.

GAUTENG, JOHANNESBURG - Members of the National Union of Mineworkers marched through the streets of Johannesburg on 18 April 2026, making their frustration with Eskom's unbundling and rising electricity prices impossible to ignore. The union's PWV region led the march, with members gathering in Newtown before making their way to the Gauteng Premier's Office. The streets of Newtown turned red as workers delivered a clear message to the government: unbundling Eskom amounts to privatisation, and they want no part of it.

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NUM calls for halt to Eskom unbundling

At the core of the march was the union's firm opposition to the unbundling of Eskom, which NUM says is simply privatisation dressed up in a different language. Workers are worried that breaking up the power utility will drive electricity prices even higher at a time when many South Africans are already struggling to keep the lights on. The union is also putting pressure on the ANC directly, threatening to withdraw its voter support if the government does not change course.

NUM PWV Regional Secretary Senzo Mncwango said the country is dealing with serious challenges that cannot be ignored.

What was in NUM's memorandum?

Beyond the Eskom issue, the union's memorandum of demands covered several other pressing concerns. NUM called for indefinitely closed mining shafts, currently described as under care and maintenance, to be brought back into operation to help ease unemployment. The union also raised the issue of undocumented foreign nationals working in the construction sector.

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Meanwhile, Eskom responded to related claims made by NUMSA around the 2026 wage negotiations in a press release dated 17 April 2026, pushing back on statements that the utility had budgeted a 9% salary increase for bargaining unit employees and that executives received increases of more than 100%. Eskom confirmed that a 7% increase over three years had been signed by NUM and Solidarity, covering more than two thirds of employees in the bargaining unit, and rejected the executive salary claims as incorrect.

Other Eskom-related stories

• Briefly News reported on how more than a hundred homes built on Eskom land in Thornville, KZN, were demolished by a massive excavator after residents ignored repeated warnings to leave.
• With electricity tariffs already up nearly 13% in 2026, a South African expert broke down exactly how households can track their usage at home using simple meter readings.
• A Johannesburg energy expert revealed the top 20 appliances quietly draining the most electricity in South African homes each month.

Source: Briefly News