The City of Johannesburg has challenged Eskom’s decision to implement load shedding despite the municipality securing adding capacity from Kelvin power station to exempt it from stages 1 and 2 of load shedding.
This has led to Johannesburg mayor Mpho Moerane to threaten legal action if Eskom goes ahead with the planned load shedding in the city.
Eskom announced stage 2 load shedding from Saturday evening until (this) Monday morning and again on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Moerane said the conduct of Eskom cannot go unchallenged as the city has acquired energy security supply of 220MW.
He said securing 220MW from Kelvin power station would qualify Joburg to be exempted from stages 1 and 2 load shedding.
He said they had thought Eskom would no longer implement power cuts without consulting them.
"When the city first reached out to Eskom to indicate our additional supply capacity, we were asked for proof in this regard, which we accordingly presented. However, the city never heard from Eskom thereafter until the announcement of the latest scheduled load shedding from this evening to Monday morning," he said.
"It looks like Eskom has no intention of serving the people of Johannesburg better after we as a municipality have done everything within our reach to ensure security of power supply. We have recently gone as far as assisting Eskom after the national utility claimed it had left some mini substations and transformers unrepaired for months in mostly poor communities in Johannesburg because it was out of stock.
"If how Eskom treats the city is anything to go by, then it is understandable why Johannesburg residents have so many complaints about the national utility's customer service. Therefore, the City is now prepared to go the legal route to halt Eskom's impunity against the people of Johannesburg, especially those whose Eskom accounts are up to date," said Moerane.
Political Bureau