READER LETTER | Still no plan to end load shedding

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has once again misled the residents of this province by promising that load shedding will be a thing of the past by the end of January 2024.

His deadline has passed, and we are still experiencing various stages of load shedding with no end in sight. Loadshedding continues to have a severe negative impact on our economy and critical infrastructure.

So far, only a Gauteng Emergency Energy Council has been established to oversee the implementation of the Energy Crisis Response Plan. However, this plan does not outline what measures will be implemented to ease the burden of load shedding.

Provincial government does not have any plans to engage with Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Instead, a budget has been set aside for municipalities to support the rollout of various energy interventions.

This is worrying, as some of our municipalities are not adequately equipped to handle their finances and implement such big projects. The Gauteng provincial government should be at the forefront of ensuring that our municipalities procure additional electricity to mitigate load shedding instead of passing on this responsibility to municipalities.

Tshwane, plans are already afoot to lease Rooiwaal and Pretoria Westpower stations to private power producers so that the City of Tshwane can be less reliant on Eskom.

Patrick Atkinson MPL ,DA Gauteng shadow MEC for economic development