The Post

ANC will lose votes over power crisis

VISVIN REDDY Leader, African Democratic Change Morningside

AS THE nation descended into stage 5 load shedding and South Africans stared into the face of poor leadership and cadre deployment, President Cyril Ramaphosa correctly left Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral to return home.

He did this because in July this year, the president assured the country that he had a plan to end load shedding and establish energy security.

On July 25, Ramaphosa announced a raft of interventions intended to tackle the ongoing power crisis bedevilling the country.

He consulted with the leaders of political parties, Eskom executives, labour federations and several experts in the sector.

He also set up a National Energy Crisis Committee, which clearly has made no progress.

The DA was calling for this committee to be disbanded but was silent on it, post the meeting with the president where this was proposed.

David Lipchitz, an energy expert, said that South Africa lost R10 billion a day as a result of load shedding.

These daily power cuts have inconvenienced millions of households and have presented challenges for businesses. ANC voters, too, are watching the poor handling of this crisis by its party leaders and are equally frustrated.

The energy crisis will no doubt feature prominently in the minds of voters in the 2024 elections. Voters will use the ballot as a form of protest by voting the ANC out.

The scramble for control of the ANC in the December conference will be a meaningless exercise when the ANC is voted out of power in 2024.

It is no secret that contestation for leadership positions in the ANC is directly linked to access to state resources.

I am watching the contest for the leadership of the ANC with interest. I have not heard any of them speak about how they would tackle the load shedding woes faced by the nation.

Opinion

en-za

2022-09-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thepostza.pressreader.com/article/281715503490492

African News Agency