The African National Congress (ANC) has for some time now been under tremendous pressure from all sectors of society, with everything seemingly going wrong for the governing party, and subsequently, the country.
The ANC has been sharply criticised for its handling of the electricity crisis, and never-ending bouts of load shedding, which are not only an inconvenience but crippling to the economy.
This week, a march by the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters, raised questions over whether a march to Eskom would not have been more fitting.
Senior digital reporter for The Citizen Stephen Tau and political editor Eric Naki share their thoughts on the ANC’s handling of the country’s electricity crisis.
Prior to this week’s march by the DA, disgruntled residents marched to the Union Buildings last week Friday, under the auspices of the #NotInMyName over load shedding as well as against Eskom’s 18.65% tariff increase approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
ALSO READ: Load shedding march: Roads to avoid in Pretoria
President of the country and that of the ANC Cyril Ramaphosa was recently forced to cancel his trip to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos citing the energy crisis amid the implementation of the stage 6 load shedding.
The president has held several meetings with relevant stakeholders in a bid to address the electricity crisis.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s Necom releases update on plans to end load shedding
Ramaphosa’s speech at the recently concluded ANC Free State provincial elective conference also focused on load shedding and Nersa’s approved electricity tariff increases which he described as a double blow to citizens as it adds to the rolling blackouts frustrations.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa: ANC’s top priority is to end load shedding
The Citizen Talk with Stephen Tau’s Podcast is available to listen to on www.citizen.co.za.
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