Cosatu's decision to free up PIC funds to bail out Eskom is a strategically wise move. Helping save the utility will save countless jobs - and help save South Africa.

I'm no stranger to criticising our unions - you just have to read my last five or so articles and it will be clear that I have scant regard for organised labour. But in this instance, I must give credit where it is due: the unions rock. Whether they did it to secure workers' jobs or to secure the future of their own children and by extension our children's future, the decision to bail out Eskom to the tune of R250-billion must be hailed as historic and courageous.

I hear all the criticism flooding in from certain quarters, especially from the DA and some private sector elements, but the truth is this:

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) manages one of the largest funds, of which a portion is pension money and one of its aims is to seek out investment opportunities to grow the overall stake of the fund so as to benefit workers.

This can happen in one of two ways - invest because the fund expects a return...