Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Samantha Graham-Maré MP
The announcement by Eskom that stage 3 load shedding has returned less than 24 hours after South Africa entered 2024, confirms that this is the year where we must use the power of our vote to defeat the ANC at the ballot box. The temporary reprieve in power cuts over the festive season clearly resulted only from the downturn in economic activity over the holidays. With the economy opening back up from tomorrow, Eskom has been forced to immediately reinstate stage 3 load shedding.
The return of rolling blackouts is the ANC’s cynical New Year’s gift to South Africa.
Even though last year saw the highest levels of load shedding in South African history, the immediate reinstatement of rolling power cuts on New Year’s Day 2024 is an omen that the power crisis may hit businesses, workers and consumers even harder over the coming year than ever before. This serves as an urgent reminder to us all that 2024 must be the year when voters take away the ANC’s outright majority at the ballot box.
Decades of ANC corruption and mismanagement are the root causes of the collapse of our electricity system and the associated explosion in unemployment and hardship. The ANC sits at the heart of every crisis we face – from load shedding to unemployment, to the cost of living and shocking rates of violent crime. None of these problems will be solved while the ANC retains its majority in Parliament.
The only way to end load shedding is to seize the opportunity presented by the 2024 election to replace the ANC with a new national government anchored by the DA. We therefore urgently call on all South Africans to visit check.da.org.za to ensure that they are registered to vote in the 2024 election, which is now as little as five months away.
Over the coming year, the DA will intensify our fight against load shedding to even higher levels, using every means at our disposal in Parliament, in the courts, and in the streets. But, in 2024, it is the people of South Africa who hold the power to rescue our country from load shedding once and for all, by voting for a new DA-led government that has the demonstrated track record, experience, skills and policies to deliver reliable electricity for all.