Cape Town - South Africans are being held to ransom by Eskom, the ANC and the national government’s failure to fix the mess they themselves have created.
DA chief whip Wendy Kaizer-Philander triggered a sometimes rowdy debate in the legislature on Thursday afternoon with this analysis of the national energy crisis and its impact on the Western Cape.
During the debate, speaker Daylin Mitchell had to call for order several times.
Kaizer-Philander said: “If the status quo remains, it means further economic decline, higher levels of inflation and interest rates, and more job losses.”
However, she said that in the face of a national economic meltdown and an unrelenting energy crisis there was still hope in the province despite the darkness and pointed to the allocation of more than R88 million to mitigate the impact of load shedding on municipalities.
ANC MPL Nomi Nkondlo cautioned the DA-led administration in the province against approaching the debate disingenuously with the aim of scoring “cheap political points”.
Nkondlo said: “In 2021, the municipal energy resilience plan was announced with great fanfare and more than 2 000 days later and after spending more than R100 million – even today – we do not hear of a single megawatt produced by this programme.”
EFF MPL Thembile Klaas said that the ANC had failed the country on the issue of load shedding and said the continued power cuts were having a negative effect on the economy and the lives of ordinary people.
“It does not make sense for the national government to speak of an economic recovery plan while businesses continue to shut down and lose profits as a result of the energy crisis.”
ANC MPL Lulama Mvimbi said the power utility had always been a problem and urged all parties to come together to fight the crisis instead of engaging in political point scoring.
Before the debate, the appointment of the promised Ad-hoc Committee to conduct oversight over the work of the provincial executive as it responds to the impact of the national energy crises was announced.
The committee, which will work in a similar manner to that of the legislature’s since disbanded Covid-19 ad hoc committee, will have 15 members.
Eight from the DA, two from the ANC and one each from the remaining parties, EFF, GOOD Party, ACDP, Freedom Front Plus and Al Jama-ah.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za