The National Union of Mineworkers has lashed out at Eskom's decision to shut down five power stations without consulting it as a key stakeholder.
NUM secretary general, David Sipunzi, said the looming closures are a result of the impact of government's Independent Power Producer's programme.
Eskom said last week that it would be reducing its reliance on coal and this would lead to the closure of the power stations.
Sipunzi said while the NUM supports green energy, they're concerned about job losses, the fact that green energy is more expensive and that coal supply chain will be heavily affected, "we support green energy but we don't support anything that comes with job losses"
He also said they will soon be marching against the signing of IPP's into the national power grid and the march will be against government and not Eskom.
"We heard during SONA that it's the government that has been pressuring Eskom to accommodate the IPP, so the shareholders are the one that have pressurised the Eskom board to do what they have done," he added.
However, they have not yet set a date as to when the march will happen.
Last Wednesday the Coal Transportation Forum also organised a protest in Pretoria after President Jacob Zuma had made the announcement at the SONA.
About 100 truck drivers from various areas crawled through the CBD to the Union Buildings, bringing traffic on several key routes to a virtual standstill.
Eskom spokesperson, Khulu Phasiwe, said the truck drivers were protesting against the directive to use less coal, as this would affect their livelihoods, "Eskom has already reduced its coal intake by R3 million. Government needs to assist them somehow, either to reduce the rate we fund the IPP or they need to be given some assurance that thy will not lose their livelihood."
He said given the trajectory to reduce the use of coal, Eskom, by 2019, would have closed four power stations and reduced coal intake by more than 10 million tons.
