President Cyril Ramaphosa on the campaign trail in October 2021. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing increased calls to quit after the Eskom board announced that it was not in a position to resolve South Africa’s electricity crisis within the next 24 months.
The utility’s inability to generate adequate electricity has plunged the country into stage six load-shedding, leaving households and businesses without power for up to eight hours a day.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema said Ramaphosa “must step down immediately and the people of South Africa must come up with a solution to the Eskom crisis”.
“There are people in South Africa who have previously stopped load-shedding and brought South Africa into energy stability,” Malema said. The current Eskom board and the outgoing CEO had previously stated that even “within 24 months, there is no guarantee that the available energy factor will be restored above 60% of South Africa’s generation capacity”, Malema said after an urgent parliamentary virtual meeting on the energy crisis.
Last week, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) granted Eskom a 18.65% tariff hike, which will come into effect from April 1 for the utility’s direct customers, while municipalities will determine a date for their customers.
On Monday, trade union Solidarity joined opposition political parties and organisations in threatening to take Eskom to court over the crippling rolling power cuts. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Build One SA said they would go to court in the next two weeks.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it would march to the ruling ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg on Wednesday next week to protest against both load-shedding and the electricity price hikes.
“Through its corrupt system of cadre deployment, the ANC centralised all power in Luthuli House. That is why the DA is taking our fight against load-shedding directly to the source of this crisis — the ANC,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said.
Connie Mulder, head of Solidarity’s research institute, said the continued silence from Eskom was the reason the union was joining the legal action.
“Nersa has now agonised over an increase for Eskom but Nersa should be publicising every month to the public how many private generation registrations they’ve actually received and how many they’ve approved and, as long as there’s no visibility on that, we’re sitting in the dark with no possibility of a turnaround,” he said.
He said there was no hope for Eskom’s generating units which frequently break down: “You can do as much maintenance as you like — if you drive a car at 200km an hour for 40 years, stuff will break and that is what we’re seeing happening and the main problem is we have nothing in the pipeline to be added. This was the [department of mineral resources and energy’s] job but nothing has been done, nothing has been planned.”
Build One SA leader Mmusi Maimane told the Mail & Guardian that his party was joining the legal challenge to demand accountability for the energy crisis, adding that Nersa’s tariff hike grant was irrational.
“If Eskom is unable to deliver services, it cannot continue to be granted increases at the expense of citizens, with no accountability,” he said.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the government must be changed to save South Africa from the energy crunch and load-shedding crisis.
“Nersa and Eskom are part of the ANC government and are one and the same thing,” he said. “In order to address their debt, the government has asked Nersa to raise the rates inline to pay back that money which the ANC stole from Eskom’s purses.”
In a 16-page letter of demand sent to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom, the seven parties threatening litigation set out a list of conditions the government must meet by Friday to avert a lawsuit.
They said that ongoing load-shedding violates a plethora of constitutional rights, among these the rights to freedom; to freedom of trade; to life and healthcare; to education; to water and basic sanitation; to food and to a secure environment.
Their list of seven demands includes that the “18.65% increase granted by Nersa will not be implemented pending the determination of the court challenge which our clients intend to institute”.
The parties furthermore demand that load-shedding stops with immediate effect or, if not, the government provide a full explanation why this cannot be achieved and that a timetable is given to indicate when it will stop, with an explanation for the timeframe.
They also ask for an undertaking that there will be no load-shedding without procedural fairness and an opportunity to those affected to make alternative arrangements for power supply, and that the state agree to compensate anyone who has suffered quantifiable financial loss as a result of load-shedding.
In addition, they demand a full disclosure of the difficulties encountered in electricity supply and for the details of a funding agreement with the United States for moving away from coal-fired energy.
“Our clients demand to know whether or not there is a decision taken by the government or anyone to ‘shift from coal’,” the letter says.
“In the event that the undertakings sought are not provided by 20 January 2023 we are instructed to inform you, as we hereby do, that application will be made to a court of competent jurisdiction to secure appropriate relief.
“If we are compelled to bring proceedings, which we hope to avoid, papers shall be lodged on 23 January 2023 for urgent relief. We await your urgent response.”
The would-be litigants include the Inkatha Freedom Party; political analyst Lukhona Mnguni; Phiwe Mehlo, who is the owner of Ikasi Farming, a small-scale broiler
business farm and a supplier to hawkers in East London; Ntsikie Mgayiya Real Estate and Zintle Ncalo, the director of Fula Property Investment, a printing and branding company in Mthatha.
Eight law firms are involved in the likely legal challenge.
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