The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has filed papers in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria asking the government to stop the load shedding.
Numsa’s legal action follows a period of load shedding that was raised to stage 6 due to extensive damage to Eskom’s generation fleet.
Households and businesses in South Africa are suffering under the impact of load shedding with South Africans calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to relieve the country of deliberate blackouts.
Load shedding must be done
South Africa needs to be saved from blackouts, Numsa national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says.
“The ANC-led government is not moving quickly and decisively to end the power outages that are ravaging our economy and our people. Removing the burden is destroying people’s jobs and livelihoods and killing patients in hospitals.
“In January 2018 we had excess power. But as we sit today, this government has destroyed Eskom to the extent that it cannot turn off the lights for 24 hours,” said Majola.
Also read: ‘Burden shedding poses a real risk to national security’ – ISS
National security risk
South Africa’s biggest national security threat is not from external forces from outside the country, but from a government that is unable to provide basic services to South Africans including unburdening them, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said on Tuesday.
The security threat of burden disclosure has a huge impact on countries and people, says Gareth Newham ISS.
“First of all, it can lead to an increase in the crime rate … There is evidence that house burglaries are increasing in some areas and some insurance companies report that there is an increase in claims for house burglaries during off hours and on weekends with a higher rate.”
“People are starting to lose jobs, businesses, unemployment is going up, the economy is going down. People can’t work, they’re getting frustrated and they don’t trust the government,” Newham said.
Also read: LISTEN: AfriForum to start its own electricity company and save South Africans from Eskom