Meeting on electricity crisis cancelled by ANC warped priorities

19 January 2017

A vital briefing by Eskom on the electricity cuts to certain municipalities to the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises together with the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to be held on 26 January 2017, has been cancelled as ANC members would rather attend a Lekgotla.

The electricity cuts to municipalities, which are a result of decades of maladministration in ANC-run municipalities, were carried out without first approaching Parliament, in line with its oversight role.

Moreover, they were carried out without first exhausting all possible solutions before resorting to cutting power to thousands of residents and businesses. The bottom line is that these cuts were irresponsible.

Eskom announced that it would be cutting power to various non-paying municipalities in the country in a bid to recoup losses incurred. However, some municipalities were given mere months to pay up while others were given years.

The DA is in agreement that all non-paying municipalities must pay up but emphasises that this must be done in a fair and transparent manner, thus avoiding any service delivery disruptions or possible jobs losses as a result of the cuts.

The ANC is incapable of putting South Africa first and has clearly got its priorities wrong if its MPs would put a party meeting above the interests of the residents and businesses affected by unnecessary electricity cuts.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 19 January 2017