Herman Mashaba has slammed Eskom and the South African government for its decision to appeal against the recent high court ruling which stated that load shedding is unconstitutional and a violation of basic human rights.
Last month, in a landmark victory for the poor, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ruled that load shedding is unconstitutional and violates basic human rights.
The court subsequently ordered Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to take all reasonable steps to prevent rolling blackouts at state-run institutions, including schools, police stations and hospitals, by the end of January.
According to media reports, Eskom and the State Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan have announced their intention to appeal against this ruling, while ActionSA leader Mashaba has described this as yet another attempt by the government to delay the matter further at the expense of improving delivery of basic services.
In a report by Moneyweb, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya is quoted as having confirmed that “the judgment will be appealed, with Eskom said to have already lodged its application for leave to appeal”.
“ActionSA is outraged that, at a time when South Africa’s public finances are under severe strain, the president, the minister of electricity and Eskom (and other organs of state), have rather elected to apply for leave to appeal agaist the landmark judgment handed down by the full Bench of the North Gauteng High Court on December 1, 2023. This judgment declared load shedding unconstitutional and ordered the minister of electricity – together with organs of state – to ensure that electricity supply be ensured for public schools, hospitals and the SAPS,” Mashaba said.
Mashaba said instead of addressing load shedding and its effects on service delivery, Eskom, the president and minister of electricity want to challenge sections of the ruling in favour of ActionSA’s request that hospitals, schools and police stations be exempted from experiencing rolling blackouts and allege that the judgment is too “vague”.
“Instead of addressing the concerns raised by the court ruling ‒ including that load shedding infringes on the basic constitutional rights of South Africans ‒ and protecting the most vulnerable against the power crisis through exempting schools, police stations and hospitals, the president, the minister and Eskom, have rather decided to spend taxpayers’ money to appeal the ruling,” he said.
With the country announcing the return of load shedding on Tuesday after more than 18 days of no power cuts during the festive season, Mashaba said load shedding has had devastating effects to the people of South Africa who rely on government institutions for service delivery.
“It is well documented how communities across South Africa have been adversely affected by load shedding when police stations’ telephone lines don’t work, hospitals fail to take care of sick patients when the lights go off, or studies are interrupted at schools when they fail to have access to power. Government alleges in the appeal that there is ‘insufficient evidence’ to demonstrate this obvious fact. It is our duty to protect these crucial services and it is deeply concerning that the president, the minister, and Eskom simply do not care,“ Mashaba said.
The Star