The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has become the latest trade union to welcome the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, judgment, ordering the Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa to take all reasonable steps to ensure that there is sufficient supply of electricity to prevent load shedding in critical sectors of the economy.
On Friday, the court ruled that load shedding was an infringement of the constitutional rights of South Africans.
The court ordered that to be rectified within 60 days and ensure sufficient electricity supply was guaranteed in public health facilities, schools and police stations during power interruptions.
On Sunday, in a statement, Numsa said all public hospitals, police stations and public schools must be exempt from load shedding from as early as January 31, 2024.
Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said Numsa, alongside the United Democratic Movement, Build One South Africa (Bosa) and others, who felt vindicated by the judgment.
“Numsa has been vindicated for playing a central role in putting up this fight with other working-class formations and political parties. This victory belongs to the working class and the poor of our country.”
She said schools, police stations, clinics and hospitals provided critical services to communities and thus should be exempt from power cuts.
“Currently, other critical sectors in the economy, such as, the engineering, metal, steel, auto sector, smelters, mines and other companies in terms of backwards and forward linkages in terms of upstream and downstream industries, are victims of deliberate economic sabotage caused by rolling blackouts, which have been allowed by government.”
Numsa said power cuts would not be as severe and they were if Eskom had not ordered the disconnection of 17 units from Komati Power Station and other stations.
“This government needs to defend the stupid reckless decision taken by the ex-GCEO of Eskom, Andre de Ruyter, who clumsily disconnected 17 units from Komati, Hendrina and Grootvlei which is a total loss of 2 200MW.
“What the government needs to do is to simply reconnect those units to the grid. In other words, they must reconnect all the power station units which they disconnected. This would end load shedding,“ she said.
On Friday, Bosa leader Mmusi Maimane said the judgment was a monumental victory against the government whose actions had resulted in constant power cuts instead of a constant supply of electricity in schools and hospitals.
Maimane said there was no need for Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to appeal against an earlier judgment to stop the implementation of load shedding in public schools, health-care facilities and police stations.
“While rolling blackouts cost the economy billions of rand – and while South Africans sit in the dark and the economy is in free fall – we are delighted that the judiciary acted in the best interests of the people and held this government to account,” his party said.
The Star
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za