'The ANC government lacks the will to end load-shedding' — ActionSA takes aim

ActionSA has fired shots at the ANC government, claiming it has no desire to solve South Africa's energy crisis.

Nineteen applicants, including opposition political parties, civil society organisations and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), filed an application in the Pretoria high court arguing that political failure to keep the lights on is a breach of the constitution.

Their matter is being heard this week.

Speaking outside court, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the parties were putting their differences aside to “hold the government and Eskom responsible for negatively impacting our economy”.

“The failure of Eskom to provide electricity to the country has had devastating effects on our economy,” he added.

ActionSA said the government should be forced to provide South Africa with a reliable electricity supply.

“The ANC government lacks the will to end load-shedding. We are hopeful that the judiciary will come to the aid of South Africans by finally forcing the ANC government and Eskom to meet their constitutional obligations to provide South Africans with a reliable electricity supply.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as minister of electricity. Ramokgopa visited several power stations this week, speaking on the extent of South Africa's power problems.

During a visit to Kusile power station in Mpumalanga, Ramokgopa said his ultimate aim was to end load-shedding.

“The problems and challenges that we have had here [Kusile] are technical problems, they have nothing to do with so-called corruption. I am going to meet labour [and] I am sure they will raise other issues.

“The issues that have been raised with me regarding the units that have gone out as a result of the structural integrity of the chimney and design components have nothing to do with corruption,” said Ramokgopa. 

“[This has] everything to do with technical designs. There are significant modifications that they are making and I am happy with the modifications they are proposing.”

Eskom suspended load-shedding from Friday until Wednesday morning citing an improvement in generation capacity. Stage 2 load-shedding was implemented until 4pm on Wednesday and stage 3 until 5am on Thursday.