Soweto threatens govt with ‘anti-apartheid struggle methods’ over power cuts

The Soweto electricity crisis committee has warned Eskom and the government they will respond with anti-apartheid tactics if it fails to listen to their problems on load shedding and electricity cuts.

A member of the committee, Dr Trevor Ngwane, vowed that if apartheid methods were used to oppress and exploit the working class and the poor, such as they are doing with load shedding that is biased against the poor, “the people will respond with anti-apartheid tactics of struggle to defend themselves”.

He added: “The rich get richer and the poor poorer under the democratic government, a lot has not changed.”

He was responding to a call by Deputy President David Mabuza to Soweto residents “to stop the age-old boycott and pay for electricity” in order to keep Eskom going.

Mabuza told the National Council of Provinces last week that the initial Soweto electricity boycott had been initiated to bring down the apartheid government.

“Things have changed; today we have a democratic government, we must talk and we must pay to sustain our own country. That is my appeal to them as brothers and sisters,” Mabuza said.

“This time this is your government, you’ve elected this government, you participated in the election so you cannot contribute by not paying. By doing so you are bringing the very same government down.

“I have seen our people in Soweto marching about the bills.

“As much as they have concerns about the bills that have been issued by Eskom, let them discuss that, but finally our people must know that the electricity that we are using, Eskom is using money to generate that electricity. We must pay,” Mabuza said.

The deputy president said Eskom’s main problem was its debt, but this was being discussed at Nedlac (National Economic and Labour Council) because workers were willing to rescue it using their pension money at the Public Investment Corporation.

He was referring to the more than R200 billion the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) were willing to lend to Eskom to help end its current power shortage crisis.

But the move is being opposed by the trade union Solidarity which argued that Eskom was making a loss and would not be able to pay back the money.

“If we can deal with the debt problem of Eskom, then we are out of the news. But I am worried about the culture of payment for electricity. Our people must pay. Our people must pay,” Mabuza said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.