The government must be changed to save South Africa from the asphyxiation of the energy and load shedding crisis, said United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa.
Holomisa was speaking to The Citizen on Monday as the country buckles under the devastating impact of stage 6 load shedding for almost two weeks now with no reprieve on the horizon.
Households and businesses are already suffering under the devastating impact of load shedding with angry and frustrated South Africans calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to find a solution to the crisis.
Government must be changed
The deepening energy crisis has forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to cancel his working visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, due to the ongoing energy crisis.
However, Holomisa said this is not enough and South Africa needs a new government.
“You must change the government because the ANC is using Eskom as a cash cow for themselves.”
Electricity increase
Holomisa also slammed the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA)’s decision to hike electricity prices by 18.65% saying it will have a devastating impact on South Africans.
“Nersa is not independent. So, Nersa and Eskom are part of the ANC government and are one and the same thing. In order to address their debt, the government has asked Nersa to raise the rates inline to pay back that money which the ANC stole from Eskom’s purses.”
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While Ramaphosa met Eskom and the National Energy Crisis Committee over power cuts on Sunday night, Holomisa said most the political leaders did not attend the president’s briefing.
“Some were saying the meeting was 6 o’ clock and this is when the load shedding is starting,” Holomisa said.
Higher stages of load shedding
Meanwhile, the country may see even higher stages of load shedding, energy expert Chris Yelland told The Citizen.
“It is certainly possible that we will experience high levels of load shedding. At the moment Eskom has postponed the use of the open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) because of financial constraints as well as logistical issues in getting the amount necessary of diesel to these power plants.”
“This is going to exacerbate the situation in the year ahead unless significant amounts of new money can be found for this purpose. There’s also the failures at Kusile Power Station. Two of the units are down at the moment and project has been delayed further. There’s a unit down at Medupi Power station as a result of the hydrogen explosion.
There’s a unit that’s going to be out of service for at least the next twelve months at Koeberg Power Station as they do the life extension and the replacement of the steam generators at Koeberg,” Yelland said.
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