'The ANC has killed the lights' - DA unveils latest election billboard
Updated | By Thabo Tshabalala
The DA has unveiled another election billboard in Johannesburg – this time targeting what it believes to be the ANC’s role in the crisis at Eskom.
The DA’s chief whip in the National Assembly, John Steenhuisen, unveiled the 'the ANC has killed the lights'
billboard in the Joburg CBD on Sunday.
Last Sunday Eskom announced that load-shedding will be implemented across the country and warned that the power cuts may last until April.
The DA believes blame for the rolling blackouts lie at the door of the ANC, which is says has mismanaged the embattled power utility by saddling it with corruption, inefficiency and debt
Steenhuisen says Ramaphosa's announcement that deputy president David Mabuza would lead a special cabinet committee to solve the crisis at Eskom is a sign that the ANC is in charge of the president.
"Deputy president Mabuza has single-handedly turned Mpumalanga into a failed state during his tenure as the premier. He can hardly be entrusted with leading the team that is meant to resolve the country's biggest energy crisis.
"This move is indicative of a president who is constrained by the different factional powers within the ANC.”
Ramaphosa announced in his State of the Nation Address that Eskom would be unbundled into three entities, transmission, generation, and distribution.
Steenhuisen believes that Ramaphosa's proposal should allow for private sector competition in the generation sector, as opposed to keeping the utility wholly state-owned.
"This plan means that each of the three entities will have the same holding board. Thus, the intention to stimulate competition in the generation sector of Eskom will be limited by the fact that the entities are not wholly independent or competitive. They will continue to be state-owned and the monopoly will continue.
"Our offer would see the generation entity privatised in an effort to break Eskom’s monopoly, allowing independent power producers to compete on an equal footing in the generation sector. Well-functioning metros will be able to source energy directly from independent energy suppliers, with the splitting off of the generation component of Eskom, they could look at selling off power stations to different IPPs in order to settle their debts."
The DA came under fire in their previous elections billboard, which accused the ANC of killing South Africans through the Life Esidimeni saga, the Marikana massacre and pit toilets in schools.
Many South Africans criticised the party for putting the names of the victims on the billboard without consulting the families.
For the past decade, the ANC has put band-aids onto bullet wounds in our energy sector. #Eskom is now on its knees, threatening to take the entire country down with it.
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 17, 2019
South Africa, you have the power to kill the lights on the ANC on May 8th 2019. pic.twitter.com/6RrdiTJxIc
"In South Africa, #LoadShedding is Job Shedding!" - @jsteenhuisen
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 17, 2019
The ANC have cut South Africa's power.
On the 8th of May, South Africans must cut the ANC's power. pic.twitter.com/UfX9nMCgS6
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