Johannesburg - The general secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Solly Mapaila, has slammed the government for the heightened load shedding periods, saying it is wrong and should be stopped.
Mapaila was speaking at the 28th anniversary commemorating the death of SACP stalwart Joe Slovo at the Avalon cemetery in Soweto. He blamed the shocking levels of load shedding on neo-liberal policies and state capture tendencies at Eskom.
"We call on the government to stop it or find mechanisms to stop it. There is no reason why it should continue at the pace it is. Therefore, load shedding is not only a result of state capture activities at Eskom; it is a direct result of the failed neo-liberal paradigm adapted by our government," Mapaila said.
Mapaila said the Eskom load shedding issue had its roots in the 1990s at the time of the drafting of a white paper on energy. He said the government had failed to invest in energy generation for the future and projected development in the country.
"The government chose not to invest in new public power generation capacity. This decision was against the imperative to build an electricity supply for self-sufficiency to provide our people with energy, particularly with the most impressive post-1994 electrification rollout by our government," Mapaila said.
Mapaila spoke out against the privatisation of Eskom and other state-owned enterprises (SOEs). He said accusations that subcontractors were also part of the reasons for the destabilisation of the power grid should be taken seriously.
At the same time, he said black capitalists who had taken advantage of the power crisis in the country should be ashamed of themselves.
Due to the load shedding situation in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has had to return home from some business trips abroad in order to deal with the power crisis at home. In 2022, the country experienced its highest load shedding peaks.
The Star