'ANC cadres cut from the same cloth': Steenhuisen slams Ramaphosa, Zuma and Godongwana

DA leader John Steenhuisen has taken aim at President Cyril Ramaphosa, his predecessor Jacob Zuma and finance minister Enoch Godongwana, claiming they are cut from the same cloth. 

Steenhuisen said the trio were “all talk and no action” in solving Eskom's energy crisis. 

“Ramaphosa, Zuma and now Godongwana promised that load-shedding will be a 'thing of the past' in 18 months. ANC cadres are cut from the same cloth, all talk and no action. Join the DA on January 25 to march to the scene of the Eskom crime,” he said. 

The official opposition will march to ANC headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg to protest the “ANC-engineered electricity crisis”.

“Through its corrupt system of cadre deployment the ANC centralised power in Luthuli House. That is why the DA is taking our fight against load-shedding directly to the source of this crisis: the ANC,” said Steenhuisen.

Speaking to Business Day on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Godongwana said the government had a plan to improve energy provision that would end power cuts within the next 12 to 18 months. 

“In the next 12-18 months we will be able to say load-shedding is a thing of the past. That is the target.” 

He said stage 6 load-shedding would no longer be needed within about five months as facilities are revamped and measures such as demand management take effect.

Last year, Ramaphosa said the government was determined to ensure rolling blackouts, which have been part of South Africa for more than 10 years, come to an end.

“A stable and reliable supply of electricity is essential for almost every aspect of our daily lives and a necessary condition for economic growth. That is why we are focused on achieving energy security as one of our foremost priorities.

“Even as we continue to experience crippling load-shedding, the reality is that much progress has been made towards ending our energy supply challenges,” he said. 

During his state of the nation address, he also said Eskom had established a separate transmission subsidiary and is on track to complete its unbundling by December 2022.

In 2015, Zuma said load-shedding was likely to last for three more years after the government completed a medium term outlook model for the supply of and demand for electricity.

In his response to the 2015 presidency budget vote debate, Zuma said: “The model indicates demand will exceed supply for the next 24 to 36 months. To increase supply, Eskom is implementing a structured planned maintenance programme to ensure the availability of power stations is improved.”

In 2016, after a meeting with Eskom management, the former president said power outages were common on the continent but the power utility was doing a great job.

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