Pretoria - Load shedding has cost South Africa more than R1.2 trillion, and the losses for 2023 are yet to be added to the total figure of loss endured by the country.
The R1.2 trillion is equivalent to one quarter of South Africa’s entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and that amount far exceeds the budget allocated to police services, courts and prisons, and science and innovation.
These were the figures submitted before the full bench of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria this week, following an application by political parties and civil society organisations to the court to force the government to end load shedding.
These details were submitted by advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, SC, who is representing political parties against Eskom and the national government under President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The court application was divided into two parts – one to force the government to exempt key state institutions such as hospitals, schools, police stations and small businesses from load shedding until the main application is heard in the same court in May.
In his initial application, Ngcukaitobi argued the state should exempt these institutions from load shedding, saying load shedding was an ongoing threat to the Republic’s ability to provide necessary health care to South Africans who may need it and do not have the luxury of private health care (which is the reality of most South Africans).
“The evidence on record is that the threat is grave enough to have already resulted in the deaths of patients. This has innumerable consequences for the rights to life and access to health care, which are entrenched in the Bill of Rights,” he said.
“The unqualified nature of the right to life under our Constitution means that the right is not subject to the State’s resource constraints. In other words: Eskom cannot, as it seemingly does in this case, say ‘I know I am interfering with your right to life, but my budget constraints require me to do so’.”
Citing an affidavit submitted in court in support of their case, Ngcukaitobi argued on behalf of his clients that load shedding damaged sensitive medical equipment, causing it to become unreliable, which was life threatening.
Data processing operations repeatedly broke down, drastically reducing the efficiency of hospitals, which is life threatening; central heating and cooling systems of hospitals are damaged or rendered non-functional, which interferes with multiple diagnostic tests, which is life threatening; and central heating and cooling systems of hospitals are damaged or rendered non-functional, which can cause newborns to suffer hypothermia or hyperthermia, which can kill them.
Ngcukaitobi said: “Central heating and cooling systems of hospitals are damaged or rendered non-functional, which means proper infection protocol cannot be followed, which is life threatening; laboratory services are delayed, which delays patient treatment and patient turnover, leading to a shortage of available beds; and specimens cannot be properly stored, leading them to decay and rendering test results inaccurate, which is life threatening.
“Pharmaceutical drugs cannot be properly stored, leading to their efficacy and safety being compromised, which is life threatening; patients whose procedures are not as urgent have to have their surgeries or procedures cancelled, which results in the worsening of their conditions until they become more urgent.“
Ngcukaitobi further argued that in those circumstances, the integrity of medication, which must be stored at specific temperatures, was compromised, which was life threatening; and ventilators and oxygenators for home treatment needed to be recharged, but load shedding timetables did not allow sufficient time for them to fully charge, leading people to suffocate, possibly to death.
The applicants also made similar arguments about other key institutions, saying police stations and schools were forced to close down due to load shedding, depriving millions of pupils, especially poor black children, proper education.
The closure of police stations, according to Ngcukaitobi, also put the lives of people at risk and compromised their safety and security. He put the blame squarely on the government, saying it had failed to heed a call to improve its energy supply and to build more power stations after it received a warning the country would run out of electricity.
He also condemned the unlawful appointment of Hitachi in 2007, which was late to commission the construction of the Medupi and Kusile power stations, despite a warning that year.
In reply, Eskom acknowledged the load shedding concerns raised by political and civil society organisations, but said the grid would be adversely affected if the requests of political parties were adhered to.
Eskom’s legal counsel, Azhar Bham, SC, said exempting industries from load shedding would further cripple the already fragile grid. “If you were to force it on them, you do risk the collapse of the grid.”
Pretoria News