THE African National Congress (ANC) is at sea on how it plans to address the electricity crisis despite acknowledging how load shedding is crippling the economy.
This was clear when Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi presented the party’s discussion document on economic transformation ahead of its policy conference.
Kubayi highlighted the need for the country to sort out the electricity crisis as load shedding is damaging the economy.
“We must improve Eskom’s performance, operationally and financially. The procurement of electricity in terms of integrated resource plan has to be improved. All we are saying here is we shouldn’t get ourselves more into procurement, but let’s ensure we implement the Integrated Resource Plan,” she said.
The discussion document does not talk about electricity reserves as pointed out by Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe, who has claimed there was enough of it and questioned why the country was experiencing blackouts.
Kubayi said that even though the country had made strides in addressing poverty and making inroads in delivering a better life for all, far too many people went to bed hungry.
She said while the ANC acknowledged these strides, the legacy of colonial apartheid remained deeply entrenched and while too many experienced service delivery bedrocks, deep inequalities undermined social solidarity and made it harder to support policies to promote economic growth and development.
