The government’s recent move to appeal against a high court ruling that exempted public schools, police stations and public health institutions from load shedding has drawn criticism from various quarters.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Monday that his department will urgently appeal the Pretoria High Court’s ruling from last Friday.
Load shedding ruling
The court ruled in favour of several political parties, trade unions and other organisations – including the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) – who took legal action to exempt essential public facilities from load shedding.
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Gordhan expressed his “serious concerns” about the ruling, as he believes it could negatively impact the government’s efforts to stabilise the national grid and tackle the country’s energy crisis.
‘Callous and inhumane’
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) described Gordhan’s decision to appeal the judgment as “callous and inhumane”.
In a statement released on Monday, the party criticised the minister for his alleged failure to comply with the court’s clear instruction to ensure that public health institutions, public schools and police stations are exempt from load shedding within 60 days.
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The EFF accused Gordhan of being “arrogant” for not complying with the ruling, and called on him to step down from office.
“The judgment by the high court is based on the fact that healthcare, education and the provision of policing services are constitutional rights that South Africans have been deprived of due to the man-made energy crisis in the country…
“To oppose such a legally sound, ethical and human judgment is pure arrogance, constitutional delinquency and a reaffirmation of the disregard the ruling party has for ordinary people and the poor.”
‘Wasting state resources’
Meanwhile, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) criticised Gordhan’s decision to appeal the ruling.
Saftu’s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that it is “shameful” for the minister to use state resources to fight the order instead of working towards fixing Eskom so that the utility can comply with the court order.
“Our concern and interest as a federation lies with fixing the Eskom fleet and restoring it to stability so that they can supply electricity uninterruptedly to the economy and the households,” Vavi said in a statement.
He added that the insinuation by Gordhan that the exemption of essential public facilities from power cuts will have negative implications on the national grid is “baseless”.
“Minister Gordhan and the minister of electricity must ensure Eskom’s fleet is fixed and maintained so that our lives are not unnecessarily impacted.
“After all, the load shedding crisis is a crisis of their making, they should not offload it onto our backs for us to shoulder,” he said.
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