EFF members demand an end to load-shedding

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and its delegates brought the traffic in Sandton and Sunninghill to a standstill during an organised protest march on 28 February.

Protesting against load-shedding and the privatisation of the utility, they headed to Megawatt Park to hand over a memorandum to Eskom officials.

Despite heavy rains, the protesters braved the 10km walk to hand over their memorandum of demands to Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.

Secretary-general of the political party, Marshall Dlamini said the memorandum focuses on issues of the privatisation of Eskom and the bad state of affairs regarding load-shedding in the country.

“Eskom, which now we can see, has been taken to private hands. Once in these hands, our people will not be able to afford electricity. Millions of our people who are unemployed won’t have access to electricity,” he said.

Buses full of people headed to Innesfree Park in Sandton. “The protesters [came] from all over Gauteng, these are members of EFF and other ordinary South Africans. It’s a protest march with everyone who is concerned about the state of Eskom. Eskom has collapsed, so we need to go and raise that issue.”

He blamed the incompetencies of the power utility on the leadership by Pravin Gordhan. “He must leave the state-owned companies so that they can function.”

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An EFF spokesperson Delisile Ngwenya added, “As the EFF, we have declared this year, 2020, as a fight against the racist financial sector, so this is the beginning of our action throughout the year. The load-shedding by Eskom has affected the masses drastically,” said Ngwenya.

She added that it has also increased the crime rate and cost some their jobs. “These are the aftermaths and affects from this load-shedding. So we are trying to make sure that the country and especially government realises what they are doing to the people of this country.”

Dlamini added, “It’s not a once-off event, we are on the ground, that’s what our voters have voted us to be. So we are going to continue to put pressure and hold executives accountable, be there and raise issues which concern the ordinary citizen of South Africa.”

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https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/293508/7-tips-help-combat-loadshedding/