Johannesburg - The African People’s Convection (APC) has called for the removal of Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan from Cabinet; the party blames him for longer stages of load shedding and poor performance.
APC leader Themba Godi accused Gordhan of failing to fix the ailing state company, Eskom, and of being fingered as one of the problematic political figures at the company.
Godi also accused Gordhan of having no compassion for the majority of the poor, who rely on public schools and hospitals. This comes after the minister said that his department would challenge a high court ruling exempting schools, police stations and hospitals from load shedding.
‘’For me to hear the minister saying that he is appealing the ruling was perverse. Why is it that cabinet ministers can be exempted from load shedding, but our public hospitals are not? For him to argue that relevant departments should buy generators, it is inhuman, it is insensitive, and it cannot be that he is doing what he likes,’’ Godi said.
He said it was clear that the current government was failing to deal with the electricity crisis in the country. Eskom was being investigated by South African law enforcement agencies after allegations of criminal cartels operating at the power utility. Gordhan's name had also come up in various reports as playing a negative role in operations at Eskom.
‘’The stark reality that faces us is that there is no achievement that he could point out. There is a narrative that he is a corruption buster, but the facts point in the relevant direction. He has been a failure, and he let the country down. He holds a crucial portfolio and presided over the destruction of these SOE,’’ Godi said.
Godi said the poor were likely to suffer more if Gordhan was retained as the Minister of Public Enterprises. He said load shedding was intensifying, and it appeared that the relevant ministers did not have a clear solution to ending the power crisis.
‘’The intensifying problems of e-supply are the weakness of Eskom; it raises the legitimate question of the work and the role of the minister of public enterprises: which aspect of Eskom has he been able to fix? What is clear right now is that Eskom’s capacity has been destroyed, and the lights have been kept on because we are burning diesel. We have put aside R30bn to get diesel, and we expect higher stages. There can be no better expression of failure than to expose the poor to a bitter wind. We are going to see shacks burning and parading stoves. We have a government that is servicing a minority and foreign interests at the expense of the needs of the people,’’ Godi said.
Gordhan’s spokesperson, Ellis Mnyandu, was expected to revert back to The Star with a comment on calls for Gordhan to be removed as Public Enterprises Minister.
The Star