DA says Eskom charges are a PR stunt

22 January 2016 - 14:34 By TMG Digital

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday described as “frivolous” the case opened against it by Eskom following its submission of a petition at at Megawatt Park this week. Eskom on Thursday said it laid a criminal charge against the party for contravening the Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993‚ and is planning to lay another charge for alleged fraud‚ claiming some of the signatories of a petition it presented to the electricity supplier are not “authentic”.Natasha Mazzone‚ who led the march‚ said “the DA’s legal team will robustly fight these charges in court”.“This is nothing more than a PR stunt by Eskom to discredit our petition and detract from the real issues – the continued failure of the entity to provide a stable electricity supply for all South Africans‚” she said. “The DA will not allow these baseless allegations and bullying tactics to deter us from holding Eskom to account for its gross mismanagement and the untold damage it has done to the economy through years of load-shedding.” “Eskom should rather spend their time and effort on solving the electricity crisis instead of trying to challenge a legitimate petition supported by almost 77000 South Africans.”Mazzone has previously said that the DA contingent had made prior arrangements to hand over the petition‚ and were granted access to Megawatt Park unchallenged after announcing its presence.Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown accused the supporters of using the access card of a “DA sympathiser” to get into Megawatt Park’s reception area...

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