Govt lacking urgency in solving electricity crisis, says DA
The DA has accused government of lacking urgency in its response to the country’s electricity crisis.
The official opposition is pushing for government to declare Eskom and electricity supply in the country as a state of disaster.
There has already been more than 30 days of rolling blackouts this year as the utility struggles to keep the lights on amid breakdowns and planned maintenance at its power station.
The DA’s Ghaleb Cachalia told the media on Thursday that more needs to be done by government to reduce the chances of a national grid collapse.
"South Africa is in the middle of an electricity crisis,” he said.
“Unless urgent steps are taken to remove existing red tape for IPPs, there is a high probability that South Africa could face another decade of continuous load shedding.
"We need to bring additional capacity to the grid to prevent this disaster and mess from hitting us in the face and ensure that there is a light in the end of a tunnel. It must be the end of business as usual, hence we are calling for electricity emergency response plan."
Cachalia blamed the electricity crisis on policy failure, ineptitude, maleficence, and corruption.
"Accountability sits with government in their policies, the president, the deputy president, the minister and his department.”
The party’s Kevin Mileham added that municipalities in good financial standing should be supported by enabling regulatory environment that allows expedited investment in and procurement of generation capacity.
Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding on Thursday afternoon citing shortage of generation capacity.
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