Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Thousands come out for EFF march
Trucking association, ATM back protest against load shedding
THOUSANDS of red-clad protesters led by EFF leader Julius Malema marched from northern Johannesburg to Eskom’s headquarters yesterday in opposition to load shedding and what the party termed the “privatisation of the power utility”.
Heavy downpours failed to deter the marchers, who were joined by coal truckers in a blockade of Sandton’s Katherine, Grayston and Rivonia roads.
The march kicked off after a speech by Malema, who accused Eskom of failing to respect labour laws.
He also launched into his usual rhetoric against Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and “white monopoly capital”.
“Jamnadas until the grave, we don’t care what racists say. Down with Jamnadas, down. Down with Cyril Ramaphosa, down,” Malema shouted, using Gordhan’s middle name.
Malema said it was time for those South Africans who could afford to, to start paying for electricity. He added that those parliamentarians who allegedly did not pay for electricity should be publicly shamed.
“MPs who are not paying electricity must be exposed and they must pay for electricity because not paying is going to collapse this company. Let us go back and demand in our councils that municipalities must pay Eskom.
“Let’s go back to legislatures and demand that all departments pay electricity,” he said.
Eskom has been battling to keep the lights on and has subjected citizens to various stages of load shedding since the beginning of the year.
The power utility cited maintenance work and poor supply from its sub-stations for the load shedding.
Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter announced that load shedding could be a normal occurrence for the next 12 to 18 months.
In the latest Budget speech, the government announced plans to start procuring more electricity from independent power suppliers (IPPs) – about 2 000 to 3 000 megawatts.
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe had also told the mining sector it could go ahead and explore its own electricity-generating methods to avoid the effects of load shedding.
The EFF sees the government’s desire to work with IPPs as growing reliance which could hamper Eskom’s future.
“It is the financial institutions that are benefiting from IPPs. Eskom has its own capacity to generate electricity. We are here to speak on behalf of the workers of Eskom.
“They don’t want this. We want an Eskom that has got its own security, we want an Eskom that has its own mining company and mines its own coal.
“We are not here to ask for tenders; we are here to ask for Eskom to build its own capacity and insourcing,” Malema said.
He also criticised the possibility of municipalities procuring electricity from IPPs. He said this would greatly decrease Eskom’s revenue collection.
“This company is going to collapse if you allow municipalities to buy directly from IPPs. There are a lot of municipalities that owe Eskom electricity. Cut that electricity and use that money to give electricity to the poor,” he said.
The march was backed by some organisations, including the All Truck Drivers Association. The organisation said it decided to join the march because it has issues with how Eskom conducts its tender processes.
The organisation’s Mandla Mgumezulu said black-owned truck businesses were often sidelined at Eskom, thereby advantaging white-owned companies.
“We are supporting this march because as drivers we have our grievances with Eskom. Eskom is giving tenders to the white monopoly capital and some are not following labour laws.
“Jobs are being given to foreign nationals and we suffer. We are asking Eskom to only give (tenders) to companies that are complying with labour laws,” Mgumezulu said.
The march was also backed by the African Transformation Movement.
The political party’s head of policy, Mzwanele Manyi, said the party supported the EFF’s efforts because it was also of the view that IPPs were a threat to Eskom’s future.
“We are also worried about what is happening at Eskom. We are worried about the business case for Eskom that is now being undermined.
“We believe that IPPs reduce the revenue streams coming into Eskom. Eskom’s revenue collection is being undermined, and its ability to service its debt.
“This is a whole strategy to cripple Eskom. Eskom is going to be left with a poor customer base and unable to service its debt,” Manyi said.