‘Free us from Eskom,’ says Steenhuisen as he pens open letter to Ramaphosa

Democratic Alliance (DA) interim leader John Steenhuisen urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to “free the country’ from Eskom amid the implementation of stage 4 load shedding on Tuesday.

The power utility announced it would implement stage 4 load shedding from 2pm on Tuesday after Koeberg Unit 1 tripped.

READ: Eskom implements stage 4 load shedding.

“I urge you to initiate the DA’s plan to give power to the people, now!

“The situation at Eskom is dire. We believe it is in a death spiral that will drag the South African economy down with it.

“We cannot let this happen. Together with the undersigned South Africans, I urge your government to get out of the electricity generation business so that we can keep the lights on!” Steenhuisen said in the letter.

Steenhuisen said the government should allow people and businesses to generate their own electricity while offering tax for equipment.

“South Africa must urgently change the law to allow companies and individuals to generate their own electricity, and offer tax incentives to help them buy the equipment they need to do so,” he said.

He said the party suggested that the government should:

• Privatise electricity generation which will allow citizens to generate their own power to keep the lights on
• Change the law so businesses and individuals can sell the extra electricity they generate onto the grid for others to use
• Offer a R75,000 tax rebate to cover the cost of installing solar systems in homes, to take pressure off the grid
• Reduce VAT to 0% on LED lightbulbs and energy-efficient appliances
• Allow municipalities to purchase power from independent power producers, rather than having to rely on Eskom.

“Please do what is right for South Africa’s energy future,” Steenhuisen concluded.

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