Africa-Press – South-Africa. The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) says load shedding will soon be a thing of the past.
During a briefing by the party’s economic transformation subcommittee on Saturday, NEC member and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the party had made “tremendous strides” in addressing ongoing load shedding.
“I am happy to say that we have made tremendous strides. Like I said, we were sitting on about 48%, the last time I was here, of the energy availability factor and now we are stabilising at about 60% of the energy availability factor.”
Ramokgopa said they had identified and isolated problematic generating units, which had helped prevent breakdowns in other areas.
He added that they had appointed a new Eskom head of generation, Bheki Nxumalo, and employed experienced people to tackle load shedding.
Despite the good news, he cautioned that for matters to improve, Eskom had to address “the transmission side of generation”. If not, the country was “likely to end up in an even much worse case scenario, than is the case now”.
However, he said he was “very confident load shedding should be behind us very soon”.
Meanwhile, NEC member and Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi defended the party’s support of the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEA), which has been widely criticised by the DA and organisations, including Solidarity.
“Transformation in this country is a must, given where we come from,” he said, adding that companies would have to consider the demographics in that area when implementing these targets.
“What does this agreement say? What does it mean? This agreement means that once we have signed [it], it provides that policy and certainty, and it also says we are not talking about a one-size-fits-all which will be imposed on those companies. There are a number of conditions they [companies] will have to meet. There are even conditions where they can justify non-compliance, which is in the act,” Nxesi added.
Commenting on the act, the chair of the economic transformation subcommittee, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said the party rejected efforts by the DA to spread misinformation in the coloured community.
“Some people have been going into communities, especially in coloured communities, to say the ANC has abandoned coloured communities; it is not true.
“That is why we felt it is important for us to clarify this so that everybody understands we remain as the ANC pro-transformation, but the transformation is not only for black South Africans, or excluding other racial groups which are previously disadvantaged communities. I mean, if you look at women as well … even white women who were disadvantaged previously,” Kubayi said.
Turning their attention to reports about the construction mafia plaguing government contracts in KwaZulu-Natal, the party said it would not negotiate with the construction mafia – despite KZN Public Works MEC Sipho Nkosi’s decision to meet with those involved with these groups.
Nkosi visited the Menzi High School on Tuesday, which was forced to push back its completion deadline due to delays and interference by the so-called construction mafia.
During the visit the MEC said he planned to negotiate with the mafia.
The R40 million project had been delayed for a year due to disruptions caused by an armed gang who demanded 30% of the project’s total cost.
However, Kubayi said:
Condemning the mafia’s behaviour, Kubayi said that Nkosi interacted with the group not “for a broader negotiation” but to understand what they sought and their reasons for delaying the project.
She added, “As a government, we can’t encourage negotiations with people who are going into sites and demanding a percentage of money even without lifting a finger…. That is completely out.”
On Saturday Nkosi’s office also issued a statement to clarify the reasoning behind the decision to meet with the construction mafia grouping.
“MEC Nkosi would like to state for the record that, contrary to popular belief, no declarations were ever made that negotiations with criminals, people who threaten society with guns, or people who claim to be engaged in economic sabotage were the only options. However, MEC Nkosi expressed a need to listen and engage those responsible for this disruptive act, with the intention of better informing them about how the 30% distribution of projects applies,” read the statement.
“Upon doing so, it would also allow the MEC to obtain first-hand account[s] from all parties judging from the severity of the matter. He felt it pertinent to do so, as some of these perpetrators wanted to be paid without lifting a finger, which the MEC deemed as outright extortion.”
The project was meant to extend Menzi High School by building 13 classrooms and specialised laboratories and was set to be completed by the end of 2024. However, government officials moved it to 2025 due to these interferences.
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