Group of ten threatens legal action over load shedding

The case would be the first of its kind in South Africa.

They are demanding that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and outgoing Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter scrap load shedding and provide South Africa with reliable electricity supply.

The group includes UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, Build One SA founder Mmusi Maimane, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and metalworkers union Numsa. 

The group says stage 6 blackouts have left hospitals, schools, businesses, and households without a stable electricity supply for eight to 12 hours per day.

Maimane says the case will hopefully reveal the real reasons for load shedding. 

"This is economic sabotage and tragically no one is being held accountable for the failures of this government to provide energy it is now clear that in fact now that they (Eskom) have been given an 18% increase in the cost of energy we cant even understand in an environment where too many poor people are paying expensively for things. 

"How is this justified? What's the rationality behind it and who is accountable for the high cost of energy that the government is not able to supply. So, we are demanding the reasons why the increase, we are demanding accountability and ultimately, we do not believe that it's justified and rational that citizens are paying for a service that they are not getting."

Meanwhile, UDM Bantu Holomisa says instead of doing guesswork, heading to court is the best idea.

 "We want to know because we are sitting in the dark, we are not told the truth, yet we see that there are contradictions instead, so rather than waiting and keep doing guess work we rather head to court and let the court summon everyone to court."