Member of the Gauteng provincial legislature and DA chief whip Fred Nel has called on the premier’s office to attend to incessant blackouts in the province.
This after Eskom announced the implementation of stage six rolling power cuts at the weekend. The state-owned power utility said the escalated loadshedding was as a result of generation units tripping at Kusile and Kriel power stations.
Loadshedding, which persists for at least 10 hours a day in Gauteng, does not only affect small businesses but also bigger ones, according to Nel.
“The higher stages of loadshedding have an extremely negative impact not only on small businesses but also on big businesses that cannot afford to have a generator running for most of the workday so that they can continue trading,” said Nel.
“Furthermore, state-owned entity Eskom has indicated that power supply will remain a constraint for most of the week, and this will undoubtedly have an impact on the supply of diesel in the province and may lead to a shortage.”
Nel said it is high time an urgent “meeting of the executive” is called to discuss possible measures needed to curb the plight of blackouts. He said these measures would include increased visible policing to safeguard infrastructure and curb cable theft and ensuring fuel securing to avoid the province running out of diesel.
Nel added that the measures should include a coalition between the government and the private sector in order to “implement flexible working hours to spread peak loads over a longer period to conserve electricity”.
“While waiting for premier Makhura to return from his trip, acting premier Panyaza Lesufi must outline to the residents of Gauteng the emergency plans that are in place to ensure the safety and security of the residents during loadshedding.
“Gauteng residents deserve a government that will prioritise the economy and have a plan of action in place to protect residents from loadshedding through independent power producers. This will ensure that the wheels of the economy in this province keep turning.”
In a joint statement on Sunday, the DA spokesperson on mineral resources and energy Kevin Mileham and DA spokesperson on public enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia, said President Cyril Ramaphosa should declare a “ring-fenced” national state of disaster on Eskom.
The duo warned that Eskom is a loadshedding stage away from a total collapse of the grid as the president continues to ignore warnings.
“With Eskom announcing stage six loadshedding due to a system-wide failure of generation units across its generation fleet, Ramaphosa is now duty bound to heed the DA’s call and declare a ring-fenced state of disaster around Eskom,” said the duo.
“Eskom’s plant performance has continued to deteriorate substantially in the past week, confirming a power plant maintenance plan that is in crisis.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency announced on Sunday that Ramaphosa, who was supposed to return to New York after the Queen’s funeral to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly session, would cut his trip short to address the issue of loadshedding.
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