Gordhan should answer for R20m diesel spending spree for King’s memorial

19 March 2021

The DA will submit parliamentary questions to Minister Pravin Gordhan to answer for Eskom’s R20 million diesel spending spree to keep the lights on for King Goodwill Zwelithini’s memorial service.

Yesterday, the power utility suspended stage 2 loadshedding between 10:00 and 14:00, in order to for the nation “to mourn the passing of the King”.

While the DA shares in the pain of the nation, it is hard to find justifiable reasons behind why Eskom would suspend loadshedding for a memorial service but fail to extend similar reprieve and courtesy to thousands of people who are fighting for their lives in hospitals and business that are suffering as a result of Covid and loadshedding.

It is for this reason that the DA will submit parliamentary questions, to ascertain:

How Eskom arrived at the decision to suspend loadshedding for the memorial and what criteria was used; and

Under whose instruction was the suspension agreed to?

It is important for South Africans to know what criteria was used for suspending loadshedding for the memorial, especially as we are country currently grappling with economic and systemic healthcare challenges - all of which requires a stable supply of electricity.

Mismanagement and political interference over the past decade are among the chief reasons we are having to deal with the burden of loadshedding in the first place. If the decision to suspend loadshedding yesterday is anything to go by, the power utility appears to have once again delved into the political arena by wasting millions of rands without sparing a thought.

Statement issued by Ghaleb Cachalia MP - DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 19 March 2021