THE EFF CONDEMNS THE ESKOM TARIFF HIKES

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

The EFF condemns the higher tariffs that Eskom seeks to put in place in order to recover the R66.6bn of costs incurred over the past three years saying that they sold less electricity than forecast because of an economic downturn. Eskom executives earn and loot millions from taxpayer’s money, the tariff hikes are meant to recover the loss on account of state capture corruption and payment to Gupta owned companies for services not rendered and yet there are already communities in South Africa where our people cannot even afford the electricity but now they are expected to suffer from the corruption and mismanagement of funds by Eskom.

The EFF calls for the Nationalisation of mines for this very reason. Nationalisation of mines means that commodity prices will be determined by the government. The current consideration for higher tariffs is because the mines are owned by private companies that are charging ridiculous amounts for coal but these very companies do not care to take of the people when they are affected by the environmental hazard caused by the mining of coal; that burden lies squarely on the shoulders of the government.

The EFF welcomes the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into corruption and maladministration at Eskom in order for us to obtain a clear way forward since seemingly that enterprise is still captured. There needs to be an alternative solution that will not further affect the conditions of living on our people than the increasing of tariffs. These tariff hikes come after the VAT increase, implementation of sugar tax and petrol increase, clearly the government is adamant on further oppressing the working class and creating even far worse conditions than those that we currently find our people living in.

The EFF calls on the Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Pravin Gordhan to not grant the request by Eskom for higher tariffs because that is not a solution to the corruption that is on-going within that entity. Electricity is a major necessity for every citizen and the state must see to it that it is delivered to every household at an affordable price; it seems that will only be possible through nationalisation of mines.

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, 17 April 2018