Johannesburg - Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has applied for leave to appeal a recent court judgment that ruled in favour of a motion by opposition parties to exempt schools and hospitals from load shedding.
The ruling, which was handed down in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, early last month, ordered Gordhan to take reasonable steps to ensure that the listed facilities had sufficient power during load shedding, and to do so within 60 days.
In March this year, ActionSA, the United Democratic Movement and 17 other political parties applied to the court to have schools, clinics, hospitals, police stations and other government institutions exempted from load shedding. The court ruled in their favour in May.
At the time, the minister had indicated that he would apply for leave to appeal the ruling, saying the court order was vague and did not make sense.
In the papers filed in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on Wednesday, the minister said that he did not have the power to generate or ensure electricity supply to the listed public facilities.
Gordhan said it would require several government departments and more than 60 days to procure alternative sources of energy and install them in the more than 13 000 public facilities.
He said that the far-reaching ruling violated the doctrine of separation of powers, because it ordered a minister to carry out a function he did not have the legislative jurisdiction to implement.
It is now left to the Supreme Court of Appeal to decide whether the minister can directly appeal the high court judgment.
The Star