Applicants in the #StopLoadshedding court case show that government is violating fundamental human rights every time there is loadshedding
23 March 2023
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) appeared before the North Gauteng High court together with several other applicants including the Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (HAITU), UDM, SAFTU and other applicants, to take government to court in order to stop loadshedding. Part A and part B of the application involve the Eskom board and management, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), and the government of South Africa.
It is ironic that during Human Rights month we are compelled to take this government to court, for its daily violation of human rights, caused by loadshedding. This is a government led by the ANC which was part of the liberation movement, whose current leadership are the very same people which fought for the same rights under Apartheid. However, now that they are in power, they have betrayed the working class and are now denying them the very same hard won rights.
Part A off the case was heard from the 20th of March until the 23rd of March. The relief we are hoping the court will grant us in Part A, is that all critical sectors of the economy will be granted exemption from loadshedding. This means we are asking the court to exempt all public healthcare facilities, public schools and all police stations from rolling blackouts.
Both the National government and Eskom have caused loadshedding. In 1999 the White paper on electricity stipulated that the state had to prepare to increase capacity because they would run out of electricity. However they did very little to mitigate against the disaster, and instead, they delayed to act. This government has betrayed the constitution and their inaction has sparked a humanitarian crisis in public health care facilities, because loadshedding has made life hell for patients and staff alike. This is backed up by evidence provided by workers in the sector.
The health workers trade union, Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (HAITU) and also Prof. Rudo Mathiva, a professor of critical care at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, provided detailed evidence about the deadly effects of rolling blackouts. According to HAITU, loadshedding can have devastating consequences when women are in in labour. The General Secretary of HAITU comrade Lerato Mthunzi said,
“It’s a matter of life and death because the mortality rates go up with every power cut. Especially if a person is on resuscitation or oxygen. If things don’t go as planned, someone dies every time there is a power cut.”
Professor Mathiva confirmed this in her sworn affidavit to the court which states that:
“There have been several instances where patients succumb and the cause of death is described in many different ways in circumstances where the cause of death may have actually been due to load shedding.”
Persistent rolling blackouts mean that children are unable to access education; patients in public hospitals are unable to access health care and communities are unable to get services from the SAPS. The state in its submissions keeps demonstrating that it does not care for the working class, and that the solutions it has provided to #StopLoadshedding are not solutions at all because they will not prevent the suffering of the masses right now.
They claim that all hospitals have generators, when they do not. Furthermore, public schools have no generators and they seemingly do not care that learners in our underfunded and under resourced public schools, are forced to go home every time the power goes out. This denies them access to education and it will have a devastating impact on them in future.
The state has demonstrated a general apathy and a total lack of urgency when it comes to resolving this crisis. President Ramaphosa in his papers, washes his hands of the crisis by claiming that he is not responsible, and he shifts the blame to municipalities. We have called on the court to allocate responsibility where it rests because the state has a duty to act, especially in the face of loss of life. Our advocate, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said,
“You do not shrug your shoulders when rights violations are not denied, and legal responsibility is clear. You grapple with the problem and put interim solutions, but there is no scope for doing nothing.”
NUMSA wishes to thank its members as well as the Socialist Workers Party (SRWP) and members of SAFTU for participating in the picket outside the court yesterday. We appreciate that they came out to highlight the importance of this court case, because the results will have far reaching implications for the masses. The unity of the working class is sacrosanct in defeating this hostile anti-working class government.
We must also thank the excellent work done by our brilliant legal team, led by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, and Eric Mabuza off Mabuza Attorneys, and all other attorneys involved in the case. They took this matter on and they volunteered their time and did the work pro-bono, in order to serve the public in this epic struggle against an uncaring government. We are entirely in their debt for the selfless work that they have done in fighting this battle.
Today is the last day of the court case for the first part of the application. We are hoping the court will grant us the remedy of exempting all public healthcare institutions, all public educational facilities as well as all police stations from crippling blackouts. We will wait for the court to allocate a date to hear Part B of the application which deals with compelling government to find a permanent solution to the crisis so that these sectors never have to experience an interruption in electricity supply. For Part A of the application, judgement is reserved and a decision will be communicated in due course.
Aluta continua!
The struggle continues!
Issued by Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, 23 March 2023
