DA: 'If Makhura was a true leader, he would cut his trip short and return to deal with load-shedding'

The DA in Gauteng has called on premier David Makhura to follow in President Cyril Ramaphosa's footsteps and cut short his overseas trip to deal with the electricity crisis in the province.

Makhura has been on an investment drive in Germany and the Netherlands since the beginning of this month.

According to the Gauteng government, it is working on developing catalytic green hydrogen projects. The provincial government is focusing on industrial power grids that use renewable energy or can transition to renewable energy.

The DA's call comes after Eskom implemented stage 6 load-shedding and warned of high stages for the rest of the week. The party said if Makhura is a true leader, he would cut his trip short and return to the province to deal with this crisis.

“Gauteng residents are being subjected to at least 10 hours of load-shedding per day. This happens while premier David Makhura is currently out of the country on an overseas trip,” said the DA.

“The higher stages of load-shedding have an extremely negative impact, not only on small businesses but also on big businesses that cannot afford to have a generator running for most of the work day so that they can continue trading.

“Furthermore, state-owned entity Eskom indicated power supply will remain a constraint for most of the week and this will undoubtedly have an impact on the supply of diesel in the province and may lead to a shortage.”

The DA also called on acting premier Panyaza Lesufi and his cabinet to hold an urgent meeting to deal with the current power cuts and challenges. Their demands include:

• increasing police visibility to safeguard infrastructure and curb cable theft during load-shedding; and
• ensuring fuel security so the province does not run out of diesel.

“Gauteng residents deserve a government that will prioritise the economy and have a plan of action in place to protect residents from load-shedding through independent power producers (IPPs). This will ensure the wheels of the economy in this province keep turning,” it said. 

Earlier this week, the presidency said Ramaphosa would no longer be travelling to New York from London. Instead, he will head home to deal with the power crisis.

His spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa made this decision after “an urgent virtual meeting with all the relevant ministers and officials”.

Ramaphosa “wanted a briefing on what led to so many units tripping, taking the country back to a situation that had been managed”.

“He further wanted to understand what could be done immediately to resolve the current state of load-shedding,” said Magwenya.

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