Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, says his party will submit a private member’s bill to Parliament’s committee on Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Petitions that could ultimately lower the price of electricity. Briefing journalists at Parliament, Maimane says it would allow for the public to buy electricity from independent power producers.
According to Maimane, Eskom’s electricity prices have increased by more than 350%. Maimane says the bill they intend to submit aims to break the monopoly of Eskom.
“Eskom must be split into two companies…the first to focus on power production and the second is a distribution business which will allow cities to purchase energy directly from this distribution company, or independent power producers.”
The Private Members Bill rarely sees the light of day. It is mostly submitted by members of the opposition, who do not have the necessary numbers in committees to vote on a matter.
Meanwhile, Maimane wouldn’t engage on the retraction demanded from him by five Cape Town councillors who resigned from the party and the council last week. This, after Maimane wrote in his newsletter that they were implicated in tender irregularities in the Bowman Gilfillan report that found maladministration in the city. He has since updated the newsletter, omitting the reference to the five councillors.
Maimane would only say that his lawyers are handling the matter now.
“My lawyers will respond to those people properly. People like to claim all sorts of things without any evidence and therefor I want the legal team to deal with it.”
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