In order to keep Glencore Smelters in Rustenburg open and protect thousands of jobs, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) will be marching to the Rustenburg municipality today to demand that the district not charge the company a surcharge over and above the approved electricity tariff by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
The union said yesterday that Eskom was making an application to Nersa for a negotiated pricing agreement (NPA) for Glencore.
“The municipality wishes to charge Glencore an additional surcharge, which is a fee over and above the cost of the Nersa electricity tariff,” it said.
The surcharge is defined as a charge in excess of the municipal base tariff that a municipality may impose on fees for municipalities provided for, by or on behalf of the municipality, in terms of section 229(1) of the Constitution. It is not a direct charge for the electricity supply.
According to Green Growth Institute, the Constitution allows municipalities the right to apply surcharges over and above the electricity price determined by Nersa, and municipalities have tended to increase tariffs to maximise revenues and subsidise other expenses.
The union said the surcharge amount would be 6% of the NPA, which is an estimated R6.2 million per month extra, if the municipality went ahead with imposing this surcharge.
Numsa said the closure of the Rustenburg smelter would have devastating consequences for the community at large, not just workers. It created jobs, and there were many families and businesses that depended on its existence.
“We are marching to the municipality to hand over a memorandum to demand that the municipality must withdraw its threat to charge Glencore the surcharge because such a reckless decision would have dire consequences.
“If the smelter closes down, at least 1 050 direct jobs will be lost, and over 7 000 indirect jobs are also threatened because these workers are employed by companies along the value chain that depend on the Glencore Smelter,” the union said.
Numsa said it had written to the municipality in July but had not received a satisfactory response.
Glencore said Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture had confirmed that Numsa had obtained permission to convene a march to the Rustenburg Local Municipality to hand over a memorandum.
Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture has a total capacity of 2.3 million tons of ferrochrome per year.
Given the importance of the NPA for the future of the smelter and long-term certainty around electricity pricing, the Venture had further granted permission to all of its non-affiliated employees at its plants to attend the march, it said.
“The Venture has reiterated to all participants that the proceedings are to be conducted in a peaceful and lawful manner as provided for in the Gatherings Act and in line with its commitment to uphold human rights,” Glencore said.
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