Civil rights organisations to march against Eskom tariff hikes, rolling blackouts

The organisations will be marching against the prolonged load-shedding hours and the decision by Nersa to grant Eskom a tariff increase of 18.65%. 

The price hike for the 2023/24 financial year from April 1, while another 13% increase will be instituted at the start of the 2024/25 financial year.

The announcement has been met with fury from various quarters, with fears that the massive hike could push consumers and businesses over the edge.

MNE Stakeholders Forum spokesperson Khutso Semetjane says the organisation wants Nersa to reconsider its decision.

"The organisations also want President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a National State of Disaster to deal with load shedding.

"At Nersa, the issue is about the tariff hike, we will be raising that issue with them to say they need to reconsider their decision.

"The second thing is that there are serious allegations against the board chairperson Mr Thembani Bukula, we want that to be investigated so that it is proven whether it is false or true.

We expect the CEO or senior officials to receive the memorandum.

"Then from Nersa, we will be making our way to the Union Buildings, where we expect that the president must receive our memorandum.

"With the president, we are raising the issue of declaring a national state of disaster to deal with loadshedding and the removal of the clueless Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and the issue of halting the export of coal so that we focus on ourselves before we focus on European countries."

He adds: "We also expect that the president should give us weekly updates on the progress that is being made at Eskom, we understand that he has set up some energy crisis commute, but the citizens are in the dark, we really don't know what is happening."

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