Pretoria - The EFF has called out President Cyril Ramaphosa over a meeting involving Eskom and political party leaders, convened to discuss the country’s electricity crisis that has seen periodical rolling blackouts.
The red berets released a statement yesterday, slamming Ramaphosa, asking for his resignation and accusing him of lying in the meeting that was attended by leaders of represented political parties in the National Assembly, when he asserted that the government was not solely responsible for the provision of electricity.
The statement read: “Mr Ramaphosa opened with an objectionable and utterly false statement that the government is not solely responsible for the provision of electricity and that we must all take responsibility.
“This statement is not only objectionable, it is ludicrous and irresponsible because it is solely the ANC government that chose to appoint an incompetent chief executive officer and senior management of Eskom. All the boards and senior management in Eskom are appointed by the ANC government and overseen by an ANC minister.”
The statement further read that after the meeting, Eskom board members, CEO André de Ruyter, and the “so called” National Energy Crisis Committee made presentations which conceded that Eskom and the entire government were not in a position to resolve the county’s electricity crisis within the next 24 months.
“The current leadership of the board and outgoing CEO categorically stated that even within the 24 months, there is no guarantee the available energy factor will be restored above 60% of South Africa’s generation capacity,” said the EFF.
“In a decisive reaction to Ramaphosa, Eskom board and management, EFF commander-in-chief (CIC) and president Julius Malema first welcomed the resignation of the Eskom CEO and specifically asked the board and management of Eskom as to what they did to stop load shedding the whole of South Africa on December 25, 2022 which cannot be done every day.
“The CIC Malema then proceeded to categorically say that the second person who must resign is Cyril Ramaphosa because he had repeatedly and perennially failed to provide electricity to the people of South Africa.
“The CIC said Mr Ramaphosa must take full responsibility for the jobs that are being lost and small businesses that are closing due to lack of electricity.
“He said Ramaphosa has blood on his hands because people are losing lives when electricity-dependent life support systems and machines switch on and off.
“We, as the EFF, reiterate that Ramaphosa must step down immediately and the people of South Africa must come with a solution to the Eskom crisis. There are people in South Africa who have previously stopped load shedding and brought South Africa into energy stability.
“We should as South Africa unashamedly and correctly seek the guidance and knowledge of those who were able to provide reliable and dependable electricity to all and get rid of all manifestations of incompetence in Eskom.
“The problems of electricity supply in South Africa are man-made by people who want to destroy Eskom so that they can privately generate electricity for their own greedy capitalist interests.”
Pretoria News