Johnathan Paoli
IN a landmark ruling on Friday, the North Gauteng High court has ordered the Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to ensure that all public health institutions such as hospitals and clinics, public schools and police stations are exempted from load shedding by the end of January next year.
Judge Norman Davis delivered a 66-page judgement on Friday afternoon in which he found that government had dismally failed the country and its people and declared that the government’s failure to protect Eskom from criminal activity and state capture, which were manifested in the energy crisis and in load shedding, constituted breaches to protect and promote the Bill of Rights.
Davis attributed the energy crisis to the government’s failure in the 1990s to open the energy sector to competition with the private sector and to timeously implement the Independent Power Producer procurement programme, as well as the delays in the decision to build Medupi and Kusile power stations.
The Judge said it was specifically declared that these breaches constituted unjustified infringements enshrined in the Constitution, which included the right to human dignity, the right to life and the right to freedom and security.
The court application was launched by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa); the United Democratic Movement (UDM), the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Hawitu); Build One SA (Bosa), the IFP; Saftu and Democracy in Action, among others.
The applicants said that the government had no strategy to shield the poor against load shedding or to alleviate the suffering which had been caused by load shedding.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was studying the judgement, after it ordered the minister to exempt schools, hospitals, clinics, and police stations from load shedding by the end of January next year.
“The Presidency is studying the judgement and will in due course pronounce on further steps on the matter,” presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.
ActionSA welcomed the judgement and said that it was a step in the right direction to protect South Africans from the harm caused by the ruling party due to their failure to solve load shedding since it was first began in 2007
ActionSA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont said that while the other applicants in the matter sought to have load-shedding declared unconstitutional, ActionSA was the only applicant to specifically ask the court previously for humanitarian relief to exempt hospitals, schools and police stations from load-shedding to ensure that these vital services continue uninterrupted.
“As a party committed to the South African people, ActionSA will continue to place pressure on the national government to act in the best interest of our people and protect our people from the devastating consequences of load shedding, and the government’s continued failure to provide other essential services,” Beaumont said.
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