Note to Editors: This statement follows a picket outside the Medupi Power Station in Limpopo. The picket was led by the Democratic Alliance (DA) Spokesperson on Corruption, Phumzile Van Damme, DA Constituency Head, Risham Maharaj, Councillors and Activists.
Please find attached a soundbite by Van Damme. Pictures can be downloaded here, here and here.
Today I laid criminal charges against the security at the Medupi Power Station. This follows security guards man-handling me and barring me from exercising my Constitutional mandate as a Member of Parliament to conduct an oversight inspection.
Not only was I manhandled but I was also assaulted leaving my lip bleeding and my phone was stolen only to be returned later by the police.
The DA went to Medupi today to picket outside the power station which has become a monument to the ANC’s failures at Eskom. Over a 10-day period, the people of South Africa were subjected to rolling blackouts, which cost the economy billions, undermined the ability of hospitals to save lives and showed the ANC and Cyril Ramaphosa’s inability to manage a crisis they created.
The reality is that, had Medupi and Kusile Power Stations been completed South Africa would have most probably avoided rolling blackouts.
The ANC does not want South Africans to see the true extent of their failures. By barring me from entering the failed and expensive facility the ANC and Ramaphosa are attempting to hide a simple fact – there is no real plan to keep the lights on and build the economy.
The DA will not be silenced. We will continue to expose the ANC’s corruptions. It is, for this reason, the DA will embark on a National Day of Action to take the plight of the nation to the Union Buildings.
The DA is the only party with a plan to fix Eskom, keep the lights on, stabilise South Africa’s crumbling power grid and build the economy. Last year, the DA introduced the Independent Systems Market Operator (ISMO) Bill or “cheaper electricity bill”.
The bill seeks to break Eskom into two separate entities – a generation and transmission/distribution entity. Our offer would see a generation entity which is privatised in an effort to break Eskom’s monopoly on production of energy, allowing independent power producers to compete on an equal footing in the generation sector.
The DA remains committed to building One South Africa for All. Where all South Africans have access to a stable electricity supply and build an economy that puts a job in every home.