ANC Youth League says it will 'meet DA' at Luthuli House march

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has warned the DA against marching to Luthuli House over load-shedding.

The league accused the official opposition of “using the unfortunate national crisis” to attempt to score cheap political points through “senseless theatrics” of announcing a march to the party headquarters.

“We condemn the foolish conduct with the contempt it deserves.”

The DA announced on Friday it was planning a march to the ANC headquarters in central Johannesburg on January 25 to voice outrage at the “ANC-engineered electricity crisis”.

Party leader John Steenhuisen said the protest would specifically target Luthuli House because it was “the scene of the crime that the ANC continues to perpetrate against the people of South Africa” through permanent stage 6 load-shedding and the latest 18.65% electricity tariff increase.

The ANCYL's warning to the DA is that “should they continue with their planned march, they will find them there [at Luthuli House] ... and we will peacefully lead them to Eskom, where we must all get answers and solutions to end load-shedding”.

The ANCYL national task team proposed a litany of solutions for the energy crisis, including a call to President Cyril Ramaphosa to dismiss public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan for failing to provide leadership in the country's public enterprises, particularly Eskom.

The league said it was important for law enforcement agencies to unearth sabotage by corrupt contractors at power stations, which exacerbated load-shedding, and to conduct an overall review of contracts at the power utility, especially “evergreen” contracts in relation to coal and diesel.

In addition, the league said it will march to Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to call for an end to load-shedding and capping the increase in the cost of electricity.

This comes amid ongoing stage 6 load-shedding, and after Eskom was granted increases of 18.65% and 12.74% for the next two financial years by Nersa.

“These affect young people at all levels, especially those who are poor and unemployed. We will not rest until the cost of electricity is reduced and until load-shedding is a thing of the past,” the ANCYL said. 

The task team threatened to render Nersa ungovernable until the electricity prices are reduced. “How dare Nersa increase the price of electricity when the cost of living is exponentially growing and the poor are becoming poorer?

“We will lobby the ANC through its deployees to put forward a motion in parliament for the amendment of the Nersa Act to ensure that the minister responsible can review its decisions for the interest of the public.”

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