The African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa says there is no time frame in which to end the rolling blackouts that Eskom has subjected the country to. Eskom had reduced its rolling blackouts from Stage Five to Four, after escalating them to Stage Six.
Ramaphosa is visiting Philippi and Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats as part of the ANC’s Letsema Campaign. The aim of the campaign in the party’s Dullah Omar region is to strengthen the governing party’s connection the grass-root structures. Ramaphosa says several issues are affecting Eskom’s operations.
“We need to repair that broken system and it has been so for quite a long time. Its got many parts to it. Its got skills base to it, its got machines based to it, its got flawed designs of power stations, its got various aspects. And its also got an element of sabotage.where people, either service providers or employees go in and cut wires so that there can breakage of units. so its a combination of all these things we are dealing with.”
ANC’s Letsema campaign kicks off in Cape Town:
Meanwhile, some opposition parties in Parliament have called on government to declare a state of disaster in light of the country’s energy crisis. Kevin Mileham the Democratic Alliance (DA) member of Parliament, who is on the Energy Portfolio Committee, says in the short term if a state of disaster is declared around Eskom and electricity it will free up money for disaster relief and bypass regulations. Additional reporting by Zalene Merrington
Some opposition parties call for a state of disaster around Eskom and the electricity sector:
