ANC NEC Calls for Eskom to Be Declared a State of Emergency, Says the Rolling Blackouts Are a Crisis

• Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has been criticised for blaming Stage 6 loadshedding on sabotage at Eskom
• The ANC NEC members made calls to move Eskom from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Department of Energy
• To date, the departments have been coordinating to develop plans of action, and it's clearly not working as it should

JOHANNESBURG - Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan presented a report on the state of Eskom’s power grid at the African National Congress’ national executive committee (NEC) meeting.

The meeting’s attendees made calls to move Eskom from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Department of Energy.

There is agreement that the energy shortage and constant rolling blackouts in the country are a crisis. A source who attended the meeting spoke to News24 and said calls were made by ANC leaders on how the government should respond to the crisis. The source said that people felt a state of emergency must be declared.

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Stage 6 loadshedding leaves some South Africans jobless and impacts country's economic development

They also described Gordhan’s reports as technical with few solutions. The source added that the public enterprises minister was criticised for blaming Stage 6 loadshedding on sabotage at the power utility.

Gordhan also attempted to assure attendees that the energy situation would improve. He said that Stage 6 will likely be reduced to Stage 2 soon. SowetanLIVE reported that there is coordination by different departments and the presidency and efforts are being made to develop plans of action.

South Africans weighed in on the energy crisis and the ANC NEC meeting:

@JTyapile said:

“This is a calculated move to privatise Eskom away from the umbrella of SOEs and protect Pravin from this next move. It would have been great to remove Ramaphosa.”

@zondimotha5 commented:

“In fact, why is Eskom falling under Public Enterprises and not Energy? I don’t understand.”

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@Perdido_K wrote:

“Are going to move the whole company instead of moving 1 person? Pravin has to go home.”

@pbremner added:

“So, the very people who broke and stole the system want a state of emergency so they can do more damage. The ANC is clueless.”

Stage 6 loadshedding leaves some South Africans jobless and impacts country’s economic development

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported Stage 6 loadshedding has had detrimental impacts on the economy and will leave some South Africans unemployed. Certain companies have been forced to lay off staff, according to Business Leadership South Africa Chief Executive Busi Mavuso.

In her weekly letter, she shared that companies could not open their doors. According to BusinessTech, Mavuso said those with generators could not get diesel to fill them fast enough, and those on batteries found them running dead.

Source: Briefly News