The power cuts that have cost Cape Town businesses millions of rands over the past two weeks are the result of Eskom’s incompetence, says Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille.
The ID is therefore ”preparing for a class-action suit against Eskom to gain compensation for the thousands of small businesses that have lost millions because of these power cuts”, she said at an election rally in Mitchells Plain on Friday evening.
”We will do our utmost best to take them to court and sue for compensation. We must not allow them to get away with this,” she said to loud applause from hundreds of supporters who were packed into the Rocklands Civic Centre to hear her speak.
De Lille stressed that the problem lay with the electricity supplier Eskom and not the distributor, the Cape Town city council.
”The phones have been ringing off the hook at our offices from many small businesses who want to join hands with us to get justice on this issue. The ID will not let you down,” De Lille promised.
The party will deliver real power to Cape Town, and not the kind that keeps on going out.
”Businesses have lost millions of rands over the last few weeks due to the incompetence of Eskom and the failure of the city to properly plan for this crisis,” she said.
Turning her attention to unemployment, she said this is a huge problem in Cape Town.
”The government complains daily there are too few qualified people in our city, and yet there are thousands of young people yearning for work.
”The ID’s solution is simple: it is high time government and the private sector accepted their responsibility for social development.
”The ID will ensure that skills-development programmes are made to work in both sectors, killing two birds with one stone by reducing unemployment among the youth and addressing skills shortages among government officials,” she said.
In a pronouncement bound to appeal to workers in the Mother City’s textile industry — thousands of whom have lost their jobs through retrenchments over the past few years — she said the ID will ensure a Proudly South African policy is enforced in Cape Town.
”The ANC talks about creating jobs, but all we see is them destroying it through unjust policies on issues like fishing, and opening up our markets to Chinese textiles.
”The ID will ensure that the city employs a Proudly South African policy and only buys goods that are produced in South Africa.”
On crime and gangsterism — a daily feature of life in many Cape Flats suburbs — De Lille said this will be tackled by ”cutting the mayor’s [Nomaindia Mfeketo] funding for parties and functions and employing more police officers.
”We will also tackle the roots of this crime by dealing with the poverty in our communities and bringing back the ethic of a truly caring city,” she said. — Sapa