Cape Town - Just like the State of the Nation Address (Sona), Treasury Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech on February 2022 will not be affected by load shedding.
Secretary to Parliament Xolile George recently told reporters that there would be no load shedding at City Hall similar to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sona. He said they had held discussions with the City.
Parliament has been using City Hall for major proceedings after the January fire last year that gutted its two houses.
In a statement to this publication, Eskom said: “In terms of the Nersa Regulation NRS -048, the Union Buildings, being the seat of government, and Parliament, are the only two facilities that are exempt from load shedding.”
Eskom said it was the City’s responsibility to ensure that Parliament was protected from load shedding.
Mayco member for energy Beverley van Reenen told the Cape Argus that the area around City Hall was usually excluded from load shedding.
“There were no special exclusions (for Parliament). The City is guided by the national standards for load shedding, referred to as Regulation NRS048-9, and must also comply fully with Eskom’s load-shedding instructions as per these standards,” said Van Reenen.
“Parliament is a national key point that is normally excluded during load shedding, and it was active during Sona although the actual proceedings were held at City Hall, in the CBD.
“This area is also normally excluded – due to the high number of people and traffic in the CBD area – for health and safety considerations.”
She said the regulation sets out a criteria for the implementation of load shedding, which include people’s safety, the environment’s safety, the potential damage to plants associated with a critical national product (wastewater treatment works), and technical constraints on executing load shedding.
“Therefore, in terms of this the City does exclude major hospitals, major central business districts with high concentrations of people (as in this case by the City Hall where Sona was held) and vehicles and areas where there are major crowds gathered for specific events where the load-shedding stages allow,” Van Reenen said, adding that this was in line with the national requirements and also safety and health considerations.
She said the decisions were at times reviewed, especially during the high stages of load-shedding.
Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said: “Parliament gets affected by load shedding like any organisation in SA. We’re not involved in scheduling of load shedding.
“The scheduling, be it during Sona, the Budget speech or any day in South Africa, resides with Eskom, not Parliament.”