The Democratic Alliance will ”turn on the lights” and pressurise Eskom and the government to get their act together regarding the current spate of electricity outages, party leader Tony Leon promised on Thursday.
Addressing a municipal election rally in Willowmore, he said in this election the old slogan ”Power to the people” has taken on new meaning.
”First, it means winning back municipalities that the DA won in 2000 but which the ANC stole from the voters through floor-crossing.
”And second, it means bringing power — electrical power — back to the millions of people across the country who are suffering through power cuts because of ANC neglect.”
After the last election in 2000, the DA had three councillors in the Baviaans municipality and the ANC one, but in 2002 two councillors crossed the floor to the ANC.
As a result, the municipality is now suffering from bad management and poor service delivery, with frequent power cuts and water shortages.
”When the electricity goes out, so does transport … investment [and] businesses, and so do jobs.
”This is a problem that affects rich and poor alike. No matter who we are, when the power is out we are all in the dark. We cannot work, communicate or stay warm.
”The ANC councils are blaming Eskom. And Eskom is blaming the weather. But there is no excuse for municipalities to have no contingency plans for power failures.
”There is no excuse for bad maintenance of substations and transformers, which is common in ANC municipalities. There is no excuse for power cuts to essential services like hospitals. Someone must take responsibility.
”The DA will turn on the lights, and keep them on. We will bring old power stations back online and accelerate plans to build new ones.
”We will make sure cities and towns are meticulous about maintenance. And we will pressure Eskom and the national government to get their act together,” Leon said.
Business losses
Meanwhile, businesses in the Western Cape have lost about R500-million due to Eskom power outages, the South African Chamber of Businesses (Sacob) said on Thursday.
Sacob president Deidre Penfold said the figure is most likely to increase as small, medium and micro enterprises determine their figures.
”Our representative in Cape Town, Marc Moreau, president of the Blaauwberg and West Coast Chamber of Trade and Industry, had a meeting with the regional management of Eskom yesterday [Wednesday],” said Penfold.
”He raised his concerns that Eskom has not been open and forthright and transparent about the situation.”
Power outages in the Western Cape are far more serious than Eskom has divulged, she said.
”We want to know from Eskom: What is going to happen in winter? Will we have these power cuts? What measures does Eskom have in place to prevent this from happening?” Penfold asked.
The Blaauwberg and West Coast Chamber of Trade and Industry is planning a meeting in March at Koeberg to discuss this issue with Eskom and Koeberg at the highest level. — Sapa