Ahead of the 9 February State of the Nation Address, civil society organizations plan to protest loadshedding in Cape Town’s streets.
The National Energy Regulator approved Eskom’s 18.65% increase in electricity rates, effective April 1, 2023, last week.
Civil society groups, organizations, and people oppose this tariff increase and demand the resignation of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantshe.
Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 9 February, civil society organizations plan to demonstrate in the city center.
They are demanding a stop to Eskom’s rolling blackouts and their devastation of daily life.
More than eighty people, scholars, organizations, and members of civil society groups gathered at Bertha House in Salt River on Wednesday evening.
Numerous individuals discussed the difficulties they face during loadshedding and how the energy situation could be remedied.
The meeting, which was coordinated by #UniteBehind, also marked the beginning of the #FixEskom campaign, which aims to convince the government to cease loadshedding and discover other power producing sources.
This is a result of the National Energy Regulator (NERSA) authorizing an increase in Eskom’s energy rates of 12.74 percent for the 2022/23 fiscal year and 12.74 percent for the following year.
This will take effect on April 1, 2023.
Operation Dudula drives immigrants away from a clinic in Johannesburg.
Under the #FixEskom movement, they seek the elimination of loadshedding by December 2023 and the dismissal of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantshe.
Among their other demands are (1) the cancellation of planned tariff hikes; (2) the construction of new power lines and the procurement of power by municipalities; and (3) the installation of substations to facilitate investment in renewable sources.
Zackie Achmat, director of #UniteBehind, stated that they are asking people across the nation to join the #FixEskom initiative.
Those who are unable to come to the streets in February might organize lunchtime pickets, according to Achmat.
Nonqaba Melani, a resident of Site C in Khayelitsha, informed the audience that the damage loadshedding causes to appliances is one of its greatest challenges.
She stated that this has also caused electrical boxes to explode, igniting flames in shacks.
Melani stated that many people’s stokvel perishables had to be discarded throughout the holiday season due to rolling power disruptions. “The majority of us are members of stokvels. “In December, there were meat stokvels for the holiday season, but due to loadshedding, most of that meat was wasted because there was no power to turn on the refrigerators,” she claimed.
She stated that many residents are choosing to boil water and cook using paraffin and gas.
Vuyiseka Dubula, an academic and HIV campaigner, stated that loadshedding has increased community inequities.
Bridget Nkomana from the Back2Work Campaign stated that while there are discussions about the city purchasing electricity from other power sources, there are worries about the cost.
Assembly of the Unemployed stated in a statement released this week that by enacting the 18.65% energy tariff increase, “Eskom is strangling consumers, particularly the poorest of the poor, who can barely afford the current rates.”
The group stated that “the public should not be required to fund Eskom’s ongoing corruption, mismanagement, and wasteful spending.” They, too, are demanding mass action against the price hikes and load shedding.
»Activists should dismiss Gwede Mantashe«