President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- Leaders of some political parties did not honor President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting to discuss the urgent problems facing Eskom because the burden was being taken from them.
- The president canceled an international trip so he could focus his attention on the challenges facing the country’s power utility.
- UDM leader Bantu Holomisa did not attend the meeting because he was finalizing documents to drag Eskom and the government are suing the courts over the cargo shedding.
Several leaders of political parties with seats in Parliament did not attend President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent meeting to discuss the country’s severe electricity crisis because they were experiencing load cuts at the time.
Ramaphosa called the Sunday night meeting with political party leaders, the National Energy Crisis Committee and Eskom’s board after his spokesman wrote on Twitter that the president would no longer travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos due to the current load reduction crisis.
Ramaphosa’s parliamentary adviser, Gerhardus Koornhof, sent a message to a WhatsApp group with political party leaders, alerting them to the meeting starting at 7:00 p.m.
“The meeting will be on a virtual platform and the link will be shared as soon as possible. This arrangement will be confirmed in due course. Sorry for the late notification. Please indicate your availability,” he wrote in the text that News24 has. viewed.
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DA leader John Steenhuisen, who had written to Ramaphosa’s office last week asking for a meeting with him regarding the energy crisis after Eskom announced the stage 6 load shedding, declined the invitation due to load disconnection.
Steenhuisen wrote in the WhatsApp thread:
I have to get rid of the cargo this afternoon at that time, and given the rude and dismissive response I received from the president’s office when I requested a meeting with him, it’s clear they don’t take us seriously.
African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshee and African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula also declined the invitation due to missing cargo.
Zungula said that although he had lost charge when the meeting occurred, he also wanted to refrain from engaging in a pointless exercise.
“[T]The president basically undermines the opposition parties and comes and says what he wants to say under the guise of consulting.
“The meeting was just going to be a public relations exercise to make it look like he consulted opposition political parties,” Zungula said.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa declined the invitation saying he was finishing up joining the request to take Eskom and the state to court over the cargo shedding.
ROLL-UP COVER | Eskom and cargo shedding news as it happens
He answered: “[I] I’m sorry to be busy with my lawyers finalizing the documents to be given to Eskom and the government about why they are ruining the lives of South Africans by not addressing Eskom’s challenges.”
FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the meeting was a waste of time.
“Them [the ANC] They are very good at identifying all the problems and, yes, they have plans, but the problem was caused by the ANC, so the only solution to the Eskom crisis is to remove the ANC from power,” he said.
The EFF had long indicated that it would no longer attend Ramaphosa’s consultation meetings with the opposition parties, as he never compromised, but only briefed them on decisions that had already been made.
Meanwhile, the DA said it planned to march on Luthuli House next week over the energy crisis, while the ANC Youth League said it would march on Eskom and the National Energy Regulator SA over electricity challenges.
