President Cyril Ramaphosa and EFF leader Julius Malema. Photo: GCIS / Twitter
‘An empty pretence’: EFF slams call for National State of Disaster
The EFF says the call for the ongoing load shedding crisis to be declared a National State of Disaster will not end the rolling blackouts.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and EFF leader Julius Malema. Photo: GCIS / Twitter
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for a National State of Disaster to be declared on the country’s ongoing load shedding crisis is an empty pretence of doing something about the problem but will not end the crippling blackouts.
The sentiment comes as President Cyril made the call as he closed the ANC’s NEC Lekgotla on Monday, 30 January 2023.
EFF SLAMS THE CALL FOR A NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER
On Monday, 30 January, Ramaphosa said there was talk about a declaration of a National State of Disaster like what happened when South Africa faced Covid-19, and there is broad agreement the country should move in that direction.
Ramaphosa said the government is already considering whether the legal requirements for implementing the National State of Disaster are met and is also considering which actions it would take to resolve the load shedding crisis.
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In response to Ramaphosa’s statement, the EFF said the Covid-19 pandemic was an instructive lesson on the ability of the ANC government to utilise tragedy and disaster as means to loot state resources massively.
The party said there was no verifiable intervention that saved lives when South Africa was under a State of National Disaster during the Covid-19 pandemic. Massive corruption occurred under the guise of emergency procurement of Personal Protective Equipment.
“The consideration of a State of National Disaster is premised on greed, corruption, and an uncontrolled desire to privatise Eskom without being held accountable. It will bring no permanent solution to our energy challenges and must be rejected with the contempt it deserves.”
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DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Kevin Mileham, said any declaration of a State of Disaster should be strictly ring-fenced around Eskom and the electricity sector. Such a declaration must be subject to complete and transparent parliamentary oversight.
“Properly implemented, a ring-fenced and transparently managed State of Disaster can enable government to bypass its self-imposed obstacles, bottlenecks, and cost of inflation in the form of unworkable labour legislation, localisation requirements, and BEE.
“However, complete transparency and parliamentary oversight will be required along every step to prevent a repeat of the PPE looting frenzy during the Covid-19 State of Disaster,” Mileham said.
