The DA has confirmed that it will be lodging a court action against the recent Nersa-approved 18.65% electricity tariff hike and the endless load shedding.
On Tuesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen addressed a media briefing via social media in which he spelt out the details of their court action against Eskom hikes.
Steenhuisen said it had become clear that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ANC government had failed to act in the interests of the citizens of this country, including protecting them from blackouts and unaffordable electricity tariffs, unless compelled by a court of law to do so.
He said only the DA had a plan to end load shedding. But, we must vote the ANC out in 2024.
“The energy crisis is now the single biggest threat to SA’s wellbeing, doing profound economic and social harm. It is now costing South Africa R4 billion to R6bn rand a day, pushing more and more people into poverty, unemployment and crime and driving away investment.
“We’ve had a full year of load shedding altogether since 2015. Last year, the 157 days (3776 hours) of load shedding cost South Africa R560bn in lost productivity. Meantime, ANC Cabinet ministers and deputy ministers lack a sense of urgency, because their official residences are exempt from load shedding and instead get free electricity and free generators, paid for by all of us, the taxpayers,” he said.
Steenhuisen said the worst was yet to come as the country had been plunged into stage 6 load shedding for the better part of last year and this year.
He said soon enough stage 8 load shedding would become as normal as the current levels of rolling power cuts.
“Indefinite stage 6 could soon give way to indefinite stage 8 or even a total power failure. This is the biggest crisis South Africa has faced in the history of our democracy. The DA has launched a political and legal fightback and is going all out to shield residents where we govern.
Steenhuisen’s address comes just when the party is preparing for a march to Luthuli House on January 25.
He said the DA had been proposing solutions to turn around Eskom for years, but its solutions had been ignored by the ruling party.
“The DA, along with industry experts, has been proposing these solutions for years. They are the steps we would take were we in national government. Some of these solutions include employing skilled and experienced engineers and managers to run the various entities of Eskom and stop all political interference in the energy sector as well as the need to unbundle Eskom and opening up the industry to independent power producers.
“By choosing Luthuli House, the DA is taking this fight to the scene of the crime. Through its corrupt policy of cadre deployment, which Chief Justice Zondo declared ‘unconstitutional and illegal’, the ANC has over the past three decades usurped decision-making powers that should rightfully be dispersed in various entities of the state, unlawfully centralising these powers in the ANC,“ he said.
When it comes to fighting the recent hike legally, the party said it had instructed its lawyers to institute an interdict to the high court to stop the Nersa tariff hikes that were approved last week.
“We have also instructed our lawyers to apply to the High Court to interdict the implementation of electricity price increases which, at 18.65% this April and 12.74% next April, amount to a 33.77% hike over the next 16 months. This is unaffordable and unfair. South Africans should not be forced to pay for the ANC’s looting and mismanagement of Eskom through these extortionate tariff increases,” he said.
Both the ANC and the ANC Youth League national task team have slammed the DA’s planned march to Luthuli House over the energy crisis.
The league accused the DA of using load shedding as an attempt to score “cheap political points” by announcing a march to the ANC headquarters.