UDM leader Bantu Holomisa launched his party’s election manifesto on Saturday. Image: SABC News
UDM manifesto – Eskom public and private partnership should be explored
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says Eskom should be partly privatised to solve the country’s energy crisis. He said ahead of the elections.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa launched his party’s election manifesto on Saturday. Image: SABC News
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa says Eskom should be partly privatised to solve the country’s energy crisis. Holomisa said this at the party’s political manifesto launch on Saturday, ahead of the 2024 General Elections on 29 May.
Holomisa said if the UDM gets voted into power, it will seek assistance from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reprieve the deadlines for migrating from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Eskom public and private partnership should be explored, says Holomisa
According to Mail & Guardian, Holomisa said a public and private partnership model for the privatisation of Eskom, where the government holds a 51% stake in the entity, must be explored. He said that his government would ask for assistance from other countries with robust capabilities to diagnose South Africa’s power failures independently.
“The ANC has been lying to the people of South Africa about the causes of load shedding,” said the former ANC leader, who defected from the party in the early years of democracy to form his party, the UDM.
UDM ELECTORAL SUPPORT HAS DECLINED IN EACH ELECTION
Since it entered the political arena in 1999, the UDM’s electoral support has declined in each general election. When the party first contested the elections, it received 14 seats in Parliament but dropped dramatically to just two in the last elections.
In the 2016 elections, Holomisa joined the DA-led coalition, which saw the party gaining a deputy mayoral position in the Nelson Mandela Metro. However, this relationship soured shortly after.
‘FACILITATE LOANS AND INVESTMENTS FOR COMMUNITIES’
Holomisa said that the party’s response to unemployment would include identifying markets for small firms through promoting domestic and foreign connections. He said that his government would also identify loan and capital sources and facilitate loans and investments in community businesses.
“The fight against corruption will necessitate investment in training of the civil service and police in IT-related matters as well as in closer cooperation amongst the relevant institutions,” he said.
