A coalition of trade unions, political parties and informal businesses have filed an application in the North Gauteng High Court to halt the implementation of the above-inflation tariff increases granted to Eskom by the energy regulator.
Build One SA (Bosa) national spokesperson Sbu Zondi said papers were served on Tuesday morning in the court, requesting a hearing to take place on Tuesday February 28.
The energy crisis has affected SA’s economic growth and has resulted in job losses, business closures and increasing inflation. It has crippled the economy as factories and small, medium and macro enterprises — crucial to job creation — have resorted to closing shop due to the country’s unreliable energy security.
“While rolling blackouts cost the economy R4bn per day — and while South Africans sit in the dark and the economy is in free fall — we are confident that the judiciary will act in the best interests of the people and hold this government to account,” Zondi said.
In a notice of motion, which Business Day has seen, the applicants including the UDM, ActionSA, Bosa, IFP, National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and Soweto Action Committee, among others, seek an order for President Cyril Ramaphosa to produce the government’s plan to alleviate the “adverse impact of load-shedding” on public health, and education and employment. The president was given seven days to do so.
The broad coalition also wants Ramaphosa to produce his administration’s plan to implement the just-energy transition from reliance on coal to renewable energy; the agreements reached with any foreign country in respect of SA’s commitments to just energy transition, and any financial commitments the country has made under those agreements.
The applicants said they intended approaching the court on a date to be arranged for a final order declaring that Ramaphosa, in his capacity as head of the national executive, has failed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the Bill of Rights in the constitution.
The coalition wants the court to declare that the failure by Eskom and the government to ensure the provision of uninterrupted and reliable electricity supply has violated several rights of the applicants. These include rights to equality, dignity, life, freedom of economic activity, health care, sufficient food and water, education, and access to courts, among others.
Meanwhile, opposition party the DA is expected to march from Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in the Johannesburg CBD on Wednesday, to protest against sustained load-shedding.
DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said South Africans had reached “boiling point” with the government’s failure to supply reliable electricity.
He said Ramaphosa’s silence was “deafening”, and demonstrated the lack of political will by his government to take action. “The DA, on the other hand, had taken the fight to court to interdict Nersa’s [National Energy Regulator of SA’s] decision to increase electricity tariffs.”
Nersa recently announced its decision on Eskom tariffs for the next two years. It approved a 12.74% tariff increase for 2024/2025. The decision will allow Eskom to earn revenue of R318.9bn in 2023 and R352bn in 2024.
The 18.65% tariff increase for 2023/2024 is about 58% of the 32% increase the power utility applied for as part of its fifth multiyear price determination.
Ramaphosa has also urged Eskom to refrain from implementing the approved increase.
On Monday he said though it may be easy to “blame our present woes on dysfunctionality” at Eskom, a combination of factors have contributed to the country’s power crisis.
“As load-shedding continues to wreak havoc on businesses, households and communities, the last thing South Africans want to hear are excuses or unrealistic promises. The demands for an immediate end to power cuts are wholly understandable. Everyone is fed up,” the president said in his weekly newsletter.
“While we all desperately want to, we cannot end load-shedding overnight. We must be realistic about our challenges and what it is going to take to fix them.”
“While we cannot end load-shedding immediately, what is certain is that if we work together with urgency to implement the Energy Action Plan, load-shedding will steadily become less severe,” said the newsletter.
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