Political analysts say the letter of demand to Eskom, Nersa and the department of public enterprises was necessary to make sense of the power crisis facing the country and outlined the damaging impact of load shedding on the country.
On Monday UDM leader General Bantu Holomisa, Mmusi Maimane founder of the Build One South Africa movement, the IFP, Numsa, policy analyst Lukhona Mnguni, Phiwe Mehlo, Ntsikie Mgayiya and NPOs asked a team of lawyers to issue a letter of demand to public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan over load shedding and to stop the 18.65% tariff hike given by Nersa to Eskom.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said the issue of the electricity crisis had been around for 15 years.
“We have been given different reasons for the power crisis and some of these do not make sense.
“There is a need for transparency and if the reason for the crisis is sabotage then let it be shown to the public how Eskom was sabotaged and how it affected the supply of power. If it is a maintenance issue then show the public the plan and issues around the plan so everyone can understand the logic behind the shut down of power stations,” Mngomezulu said.
He said he fully agrees that the legal route is necessary and hopefully it will enable people to find out what the real problem is at the power utility.
Another analyst, Professor Sipho Seepe said the letter of demand illustrated the level of frustration felt by people who want to explore all avenues to establish what was the real problem at Eskom.
“Professionals have backed the team of lawyers to use professional muscle to explore what is permissible in a democracy.
“The idea is to try and use every avenue to appeal to Eskom to fix this mess, to stop load shedding or to get to the bottom of the problem.”
Seepe said some were threatening mass action while others were going the legal route and this was because South Africans were struggling under the burden of a lack of energy security and Eskom was central to this.