Pretoria - Political parties and civil society organisations failed in their legal bid to force Eskom and the government to “immediately” exempt key state institutions from load shedding in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday.
The parties amended their court application after Eskom on Monday conceded that their demands for the exemption of hospitals, schools, police stations and small business from load shedding were warranted.
The application was made minutes before the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to present its version of the application to force the state to exempt key institutions from load shedding.
Earlier, Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane, whose party is one of the applicants, confirmed that they consulted widely and asked their legal counsel to make an amended application to force the government to find alternative energy and immediately provide key institutions with electricity.
At the time, Maimane hoped the government would accede to their request, but that was turned down by the court. Various members of these political parties and trade unions picketed outside the court, hoping that the full bench would rule in their favour.
In his ruling, Judge Norman Davis said the amendment by applicants in the matter against Eskom was refused on the basis that it was wider than paragraph 5 of the relief sought in the amended Notice of Motion.
“Also due to the fact that the amendment involves more parties than just the Minister of State Enterprises and has specific commencement dates and deviates from the paragraph 5 wording which states ‘procurement’ to ‘installation’.
“This widening of the relief sought by the amendment will necessitate the government to file a further set of papers and lengthen proceedings.
“The balance of convenience therefore is against the amendment.”
While parties and the government were squaring off in the court, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told the media that Eskom was apparently making strides to reduce load shedding.
“The ANC welcomes positive spin-offs that are starting to show from implementation of the Energy Action Plan. We also note that Eskom’s projection made on the January 22, 2023 has materialised.
“Eskom made a projection to the effect that the Energy Availability Factor will increase from 58% to 70% towards the end of March 2023.
“We have no doubt that the relevant authorities will ensure that these improvements are sustained and lead to a continuous reduction and eventual end of load shedding.
“We wish to reiterate that we will not be side-tracked from the important task of implementing our electoral mandate and continuously improving service delivery in order to make a better life for all a lived reality by those who are mainly motivated by political opportunism, adventurism, intolerance, undemocratic behaviour, dictatorial tendencies, delusions of grandeur and an attempt to bully citizens who do not agree with them,” Mbalula said.
The failed application, however, came after, during the virtual hearing on Monday, counsel for political and civil society organisations, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, presented a detailed application for the court to grant his clients their relief, 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 death of patients. This has innumerable consequences for the rights to life and access to health care, which are entrenched in the Bill of Rights.
“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’, he said.
Ngcukaitobi argued that similar situations were experienced in schools and police stations. Schools in mostly black townships were forced to dismiss pupils early from school, while police stations were closed down, which had resulted, in some cases, in the escalation of violent crime in affected areas.
The case continues.
Pretoria News