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DA protest calls for an end to Eskom's monopoly - as it happened

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The DA is protesting outside the Eskom headquarters. (Photo: Gareth van Zyl)
The DA is protesting outside the Eskom headquarters. (Photo: Gareth van Zyl)
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04 Feb 2015

04 Feb 2015

Today has seen Eskom implement stage 1 load shedding; the DA marched on Eskom headquarters over the Ismo bill being thrown out; there was a vigil protest outside Parliament over SA's nuclear power plans and Joburg Water announced water cuts for residents there this weekend.

Read the live updates below for more on all of this.
Water cuts for Joburg

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: It's that thinking that has gotten us into the mess today.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: It's that old state-centric thinking that Eskom as a state-owned enterprise must remain the monopoly.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: We passed the Ismo bill as a committee in parliament and it was going to the house to be debated, but at the last minute it was taken away from the house by ministerial interference and that bill never got passed.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling:I think there is an ideological division that is concurring within the ANC. We have seen this kind of dance around electricity reform, which has gotten us nowhere. Some people within the ANC believe that the Eskom monopoly must be broken up, and they were in the fore in the last three years.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: What they are saying to the private sector is 'help us in this crisis, but just accept the fact that the Eskom monopoly will remain in place'.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: Now what we are seeing from the ANC is that they don't want this Ismo bill, they want the Eskom monopoly and they want Eskom to remain the central energy generator in the country.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: This decision is very strange to the DA. The president in his 2010 and 2014 state of the nation addresses said they would bring the Ismo bill to parliament and would be passing that and thereby taking away the transmission grid from Eskom.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: What we have seen come out now from the ANC lekgotla is to say that they now want the Ismo (independent system market operator) bill completely canned.
FULL STORY

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: For five years, we sat and no one brought new generation online. The energy crisis that we are facing today is a direct result of those poor policy decisions back in early 2000.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: The private sector said they couldn't bring projects online under these conditions.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: They didn't implement any of the reforms called for in the white paper on energy from 1998.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: Back in 2000, the government didn't initiate the proper reform process to create a conducive environment for the private sector to build that generating capacity.

04 Feb 2015

The DA's shadow energy minister, Lance Greyling, told Fin24 that the government told Eskom in 2000 not to build anymore new generation as they wanted the private sector to build it. "But they did not initiate the proper reform."

04 Feb 2015

Faith communities have expressed serious disquiet about the South African government’s proposal to build a number of large nuclear reactors, purportedly to address South Africa’s current energy concerns.

“Our electricity shortages are best addressed by increasing renewable energy which comes online within 2-3 years, combined with energy efficiency, rather than pursuing nuclear power which is notorious for its cost over runs and delays” said SAFCEI spokesperson, Liz McDaid.

“A nuclear power plant that takes ten years to build will not help Eskom keep lights on in 2015, while solar and wind power plants that have come online now are helping to ease the current shortages”.

SAFCEI has been supported by the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) in pursuing its access to information applications, and, in response to DoE’s refusal to release information about the proposed nuclear agreements, is now investigating further legal action. 

 “Such secretive deals clearly raise the spectre of corruption. International vendors are not charities and will negotiate deals that provide them with the best returns.  Our energy security will be compromised and the people of South Africa will be left powerless” states SAFCEI’s board member, Buddhist Ani Tsondru.  “Our democracy is at stake”.

SAFCEI calls on cabinet to ensure transparency, conduct due diligence studies, and appeals to parliament to hold government to account and demand answers.

04 Feb 2015

Another protest and vigil took place outside Parliament this morning.

"Today, the board members of the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI) held a vigil outside the entrance to parliament. This was part of SAFCEI’s ethical governance initiative and is in response to government's continued support of nuclear power."

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: We are calling on government to start that process now.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: In the 1998 energy white paper, it says that such a break up of Eskom needs to occur and because they didn't embark on that in the early 2000s, we are now seeing the results of that in that in fact we haven't built enough generation, we haven't encouraged enough independent power producers to in fact generate electricity and to put that on to the grid.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: The vertically integrated structure has to be broken, because in fact this is part of the reason why we are in the electricity crisis that we are in today.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: Eskom currently accounts for about 95% of our energy generation. It owns and controls and operates the entire transmission grid and is responsible for about 42% of final distribution.

04 Feb 2015

Lance Greyling: The protest is two fold. The one part of the protest was to protest the fact that the government has not in fact done anything over the last 15 years to break the stranglehold of the Eskom monopoly on electricity industry.

04 Feb 2015

From Fin24 user Cornelius Koopman: "I believe Eskom management should be investigated. How on earth can you receive a stack of files - 5-year term approved plans for what should be done and 2 years down the line, nothing was done."

04 Feb 2015

DA shadow minister for Energy Lance Greyling on the DA protest.

04 Feb 2015

Amid everything this fake Eskom Support account sprang up.
See here

04 Feb 2015

From Fin24 user Zithulele: "What does these confused politicians speak about illegal connections that take place in townships and rural areas ? When are they going to lead marches against such activities?"

04 Feb 2015

From Fin24 user Lisette Lillywhite: "Go DA go!  Maimane for president!"

04 Feb 2015

The areas in Joburg who will be hit with a water outage are:

Roodepoort/Randburg area: Bergbron, Claremont, Delarey, Whiteridge, Roodekrans (all ext), Wilropark (all ext), Helderkruin (all ext), Constantia Kloof (all ext), Allens Nek (all ext), Weltevreden (all ext), Florida Hills, Florida North, Discovery (all ext), Selwyn, Florida Township, Horison, Horison View, Roodepoort North, Florida Park (all ext), Constantia Park, Honeydew (all ext), Zandspruit, Laserpark, Randparkridge, Cosmo City, Lanseria, Thabo Mbeki Informal settlement, Olivedale, Sundowner, Northwold, Boskruin, Bromhof, Kya Sands, Bloubosrand, Eagle Canyon, Honeydew View, Poortview,  Ruimsig, Wilgeheuwel, Princess, Grobler Park (all ext), Lindhaven, Little Falls, Harveston, Honeydew (all ext), parts of Northriding  

Langlaagte/ Southdale area: Mondeor, Southgate, Meredale, Alan Manor, Eagles Nest, Southfork, Kibler Heights, Eikenhof, Lougherin A.H, Coronationville,Westbury, Claremont, Triomf, Westdene, Newlands, Greymont, Albertskroon, Albertsville, Langlaagte, Industria, Bosmont, Riverlea, Longdale, Vrededorp, Fordsburg, Brixton, Mayfair, Cottesloe, Janhofmeyer, Rossmore, Hursthill, Montclare, Melville, Emmerentia, Auckland Park, Greenside, Westcliff, Parkview, Fairlands, Berario, Northcliff (all ext)        

Soweto Areas:   Pimville, Power Park,  Diepkloof, Orlando East, Orlando  West, Dobsonville, Naturena Klipspruit ,Meadowlands, Comptonville, Meredale, Moroka, Jabavu, Molapo,Jabulani, Tladi, Moletsane, Mofolo South, Mapetla, Zola, Zondi, Naledi and all extensions, Emdeni, Mofolo north, Mofolo central, parts of Dube, Chiavelo and extensions, Protea North, Protea South, Dhlamini and extensions, Eldoradopark and all extensions, Klipspruit west and Klipspruit and Protea Glen(all extensions)   Hospitals affected: Wilgeheuwel, Flora Clinic, Olivedale, Helen Joseph, Crescent Clinic, Garden City,  Rahima Moosa, Baragwanath , Tshepo Themba, Lesedi  Clinic

04 Feb 2015

Johannesburg residents are in for a tough time, with load shedding and now water outages.

Johannesburg Water, the City’s water and sanitation service provider said: "We would like to inform residents about a planned water disruption that will affect certain areas within our system from 14:00 on 7th February till the 8th of February at 15:00. This is for Rand Water to do maintenance at the Eikenhof pump station."

04 Feb 2015

From Fin24 user Ntutuzelo Gabha: "This is everyone's problem not the ANC's. I am tired of the racist DA and its (Helen) Zille."

04 Feb 2015

Mmusi Maimane says he wrote to Minister Brown calling for her to declare load shedding a crisis.

04 Feb 2015

"We need change; we need the lights to be on...we the South Africans are battling with this darkness," says Mmusi Maimane.

04 Feb 2015

Are you at the protest? Or have an opinion on the Eskom's monopoly? Send us your thoughts and photos now.

04 Feb 2015

"When people face competition they pull up their socks," says Mmusi Maimane as he calls for breaking Eskom's monopoly.

04 Feb 2015

 Mmusi Maimane says by 2016 Joburg and Pretoria will have a "blue govenrment".

04 Feb 2015

"Who gets a bonus but keeps people in the dark," says Mmusi Maimane.

04 Feb 2015

"We can't afford for Eskom to remain a monopoly," says Mmusi Maimane.

04 Feb 2015

Bishop Geoff Davies, the patron of Safcei (SA Faith Communities' Environment Institute), said they had been protesting and praying outside Parliament since last year, when news emerged that Zuma had allegedly struck a deal with the Russians to build nuclear power stations, that could cost the country R1trn.
Bishop Geoff Davies, the patron of Safcei (SA Faith Communities' Environment Institute), said they had been protesting and praying outside Parliament since last year, when news emerged that Zuma had allegedly struck a deal with the Russians to build nuclear power stations, that could cost the country R1trn. <br />
READ MORE HERE

04 Feb 2015

While the DA protest outside the Eskom headquarters, a faith-based environment organisation held their weekly vigil outside Parliament in Cape Town.
While the DA protest outside the Eskom headquarters, a faith-based environment organisation held their weekly vigil outside Parliament in Cape Town. <br />

04 Feb 2015

Mmusi Maimane says: "We must make sure independent power producers come on board."

He also wants the nuclear plan to be scrapped.

04 Feb 2015

Mmusi Maimane on Zuma: "Maybe he likes load shedding because in the dark people can't see what's happening."
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