Lerato Mbhiza
Addressing thousands of EFF supporters, the party’s CIC Julius Malema said he will end load shedding when he comes to power by asking for help from other countries that have resources to assist South Africa in its energy crisis.
“I will go to Russia and China to ask for help to solve the crises that we are in. In order for them to help us build more power stations and allow them to operate for 30 years or so and transfer them to us and leave .. why would you have friends and not use them”?
Malema was addressing EFF supporters in Gauteng at Ellis Park Arena, ahead of the 2024 elections.
He said the EFF is not against any Independent Power Producers but questioned why Eskom needed to close its doors but open it to IPPs?
Malema warned that if electricity is going to be provided by IPPs it is going to be expensive and the poor won’t be able to afford it while alleging that the main reason why the government doesn’t solve the energy crisis is because they want to give electricity to their friends.
Malema’s utterances come in the wake of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s report that South Africa is still navigating its energy challenges with losses in generating units continuing to pose challenges, although there is cause for optimism.
Ramokgopa added that improved generating capacity is giving it room to suspend load shedding during the day this week.
Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented on Sunday from 16h00 to 05h00 on Monday as previously scheduled.
Thereafter, load shedding will be suspended until 16h00, Eskom said.
Stage 2 load shedding will kick in again for the evening peak, lasting until 05h00 the next day. This pattern will repeat until further notice, it said.
As rolling blackouts persist with no respite in sight, the City of Joburg is trying to mitigate the impact on residents and protect critical infrastructure while proceeding with plans to eventually ditch Eskom.
In the latest efforts to try to stabilise the metro’s electricity grid, City Power will now oversee load shedding operations for most of the areas in Johannesburg, which were previously managed by Eskom.
From next week, Johannesburg City Power will manage load shedding in the metro after reaching an agreement with Eskom.
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