Durban — The DA in eThekwini has penned a letter to mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, calling for an emergency executive council meeting over the load shedding crisis.
The call comes after the eThekwini Municipality, on Tuesday, announced that on May 25, the City would revert to a normal load shedding schedule.
In a statement on Wednesday, DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said the party had written to exco chairperson Kaunda demanding an urgent meeting so he and city manager Musa Mbhele can address councillors on the announcement that a full load shedding schedule will be implanted in the municipality.
In the letter sent dated May 17, Mthethwa said: “… As the municipality has announced the plans to introduce load shedding from stage one upwards, I’m sure you would be aware that the city’s electricity infrastructure is highly compromised because of the infrastructure will not be able to cope with the demand and an on and off switching.”
“It is in light of this that I write to you in your capacity as the chairperson of the executive committee to convene an emergency exco meeting to discuss the impact of this load shedding to the economy and residents and come with plans as to how to mitigate the imminent crisis,” the letter concluded.
Mthethwa said while it may be business as usual for the ANC and City officials, residents of eThekwini would face up to eight hours a day without electricity without the guarantee the lights will come back on due to the state of the grid.
“This approach and mentality can no longer be tolerated, and politicians and officials must be held accountable for putting us in this disaster we now find ourselves in,” Mthethwa said.
He reiterated that instead of spending R200 million to upgrade critical electricity infrastructure after the floods, the ANC mayor decided to allocate this to the Expanded Public Works Programme to allow his councillors to distribute patronage.
“Having lost billions of rand in investments and thousands of jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, load shedding, economic downturns, and a lack of service delivery, eThekwini cannot afford lazy leadership like this,” Mthethwa said.
Mthethwa called for the emergency exco meeting a day after eThekwini communications head Lindiwe Khuzwayo said following discussions with Eskom, the City’s load shedding schedule was being revised and a new schedule would be effective from May 25.
She said while the City’s infrastructure was not yet repaired to pre-flood levels, the City acknowledged the country’s need to reduce the load to protect the national grid.
“It has therefore become unavoidable for eThekwini to revert to normal load shedding stages as experienced by the rest of the country.”
Khuzwayo said some areas continued to battle with the damage from the floods and as a result, there were certain sub-stations that could not be switched off as that would pose a significant risk to residents and infrastructure.
“The City is finalising the amended load shedding schedule and this will be shared with the public as soon as it is ready,” Khuzwayo said.
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