ActionSA’s lawyers said on Wednesday it “rigorously” opposed government and Eskom’s appeal of the judgment handed down by the North Gauteng High Court in December, in which it ordered Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to take all reasonable steps to prevent rolling blackouts at State-run institutions, including schools, police stations and hospitals, by the end of January.

ActionSA brought the request that vital institutions be exempt from loadshedding.

ActionSA president Herman Mashaba vowed to continue to place pressure on the national government to protect citizens from the “devastating consequences” of loadshedding, and from government’s “continued failure” to provide other essential services.

He pointed out that loadshedding was one of the country’s biggest inhibitors to job creation with thousands of small businesses forced to close as a result, also noting an increase in crime when loadshedding occured.

Mashaba noted that Eskom, the President and the Minister of Electricity wanted to appeal sections of the ruling, alleging that the judgment was too “vague”.

“Instead of addressing the concerns raised by the court ruling – including that loadshedding infringes on the basic constitutional rights of South Africans – and protecting the most vulnerable against the power crisis through exempting schools, police stations and hospitals, the President, the Minister and Eskom, have rather decided to spend taxpayer’s money to appeal the ruling,” Mashaba said.

ActionSA has set out plans to end loadshedding within two years if it comes into government by, among others, liberalising the electricity market and ending nepotism at Eskom. 

Mashaba highlighted that in the 17 years since loadshedding was first introduced in 2007, the ruling party had not taken sufficient action to address the energy crisis.

“We will continue to do everything in our power to protect the most vulnerable South Africans from the failures of the ruling party and will take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the government is held accountable,” he said.

Mashaba thanked the party’s legal representatives and advocate Gillian Benson, who he said had tirelessly championed the matter on behalf of ActionSA in court.