Johnathan Paoli
THE Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has challenged the December North Gauteng High Court judgment, obliging his department to ensure the complete exemption of institutions such as schools and hospitals from loadshedding.
The deadline for Ramokgopa is fast approaching as the high court judgment gives the minister until the end of January, to take reasonable action to ensure schools, police stations, and hospitals won’t be affected by power cuts.
Ramokgopa is challenging the ruling declaring load shedding unconstitutional, insisting that it was not the constitutionality of load shedding that was in dispute.
Ramokgopa said that the government agreed that ongoing load shedding limited the constitutional rights of South Africans.
However, the minister insisted that the court ruling had limitations and in need of clarification, and that is what they were appealing.
“It isolates the facilities – police stations, clinics, and schools – but from where I am sitting, one of the key infrastructure assets I think should be protected is water assets because we will not have clean drinking water,” Ramokgopa said.
This follows the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between Ramokgopa and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan.
Last week, the president approved the MOU, outlining the roles and responsibilities of the ministers, with the agreement addressing concerns about potential clashes in Ramokgopa and Gordhan’s duties.
Ramokgopa has warned that the country will continue experiencing rotational power cuts in the medium term though Eskom was working on a solution to reduce their severity.
This comes as Eskom has also warned of severe load shedding this year, highlighting that demand will exceed available electricity each day, worse than in 2023, though it successfully maintained minimal load shedding during the festive season.
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