Cape Town – Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has criticised Mmusi Maimane, the leader of Build One South Africa (BOSA), for exploiting the suffering of citizens for political gain.
This comes after Maimane filed a murder charge against Gordhan and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa following the death of three-year-old Neyamiah James.
Today we opened a case of culpable homicide against the minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan and the minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa for the death of a 3 year old child due to load shedding. pic.twitter.com/8VBivfSiQB
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) May 29, 2023
Neyamiah died after the inverter powering her breathing machine ran out of charge as a result of load shedding in Johannesburg.
According to the Randburg Sun, the girl died on Thursday last week in her mother’s arms.
Neyamiah suffered from a rare neurodevelopmental disorder called Woree Syndrome which causes drug-resistant epilepsy and global developmental delay.
Maimane slammed the government, saying that it was failing the most vulnerable members of society.
He highlighted instances of children dying in pit latrines and being placed in cardboard boxes due to delays in local hospitals.
Maimane also emphasised the impact of extended load-shedding, where incubators failed and children lost their lives. He called for the government to be held accountable for these issues and expressed frustration at their lack of action in addressing the problem of load-shedding after 15 years.
We need accountability from these government ministers. We cannot sit back as children die from load shedding and as people die from drinking water. We cannot operate as though it’s business as usual. pic.twitter.com/dZjthc78mt
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) May 30, 2023
“There’s a famous line that says, ‘charge the government by how it looks after its most vulnerable’,” he said.
“The most vulnerable are children dying in pit latrines. They are being put in cardboard boxes in the North West and they’re dying as a result of local hospitals suffering delays. When there is extended load-shedding, incubators fail, children die. So they must be held accountable.
“We cannot sit here and wait for them to tell us, 15 years on, that load-shedding is something they can’t deal with,” Times Live quoted him as saying.
But Gordhan accused Maimane of using the toddler’s death as an opportunity to score political points.
“Minister Gordhan said it was disheartening that some political elements were so devoid of any empathy and were seeking to use the suffering caused by load-shedding to score cheap political points.
“Most notable in this regard were the attempts by Mmusi Maimane to capitalise on the suffering of citizens for political mileage,” the department of public enterprises said on Monday.
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The department said that its decision to appeal against a recent court ruling was about “ensuring that current and ongoing efforts to stabilise the national grid were not compromised due to the ongoing need to balance supply and demand for electricity”.
Earlier this month, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria gave Gordhan 60 days to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to all government hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations following an application by the UDM, Action SA, Bosa and other political and civic organisations. However, Gordhan went back to the courts to take the matter up on appeal.
His department said it had already initiated efforts with the Department of Health and Eskom to identify 213 hospitals that will be exempted from load shedding in order to maintain a continuous power supply. Currently, 76 hospitals have already been excluded from load shedding, and efforts are underway to exempt an additional 46 hospitals.
“The DPE initiated the work to segregate these hospitals, working with the Department of Health.
“As a government we are continuously working to determine what other facilities can be isolated from the integrated grid. In certain instances it is not possible. The load shedding that is affecting families, schools, health care and business facilities is regrettable.
“This is not wilful, and it is not in the absence of continued and determined efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of load shedding.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
