Cape Town — Many people, organisations, and political parties have applauded the High Courts decision to exempt schools and hospitals from load shedding, but some experts believe it is impractical.
The High Court ruled that schools, hospitals, clinics and police stations will be exempt from load shedding, as early as January 2024 after it was revealed that load shedding is an infringement on many basic human rights.
“The Minister of Electricity is ordered to take all reasonable steps by no later than January 31, 2024, whether in conjunction with Eskom and other organs of state or not, to ensure that there shall be be sufficient supply or generation of electricity to prevent any interruption of supply as a result of load shedding,” the judgement read.
According to EWN, the decision to exempt critical facilities from load shedding has been met with uncertainty by some experts, questioning its feasibility.
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Energy specialist Hilton Trollip said that while it was important for these facilities to have ongoing electricity supply, the possibility is unlikely.
Some of them are on separate circuits but many of them are on circuits which are also connected to normal houses and shopping centres. It would mean load shedding wouldn’t work effectively,” Trollip said.
Energy expert, Lungile Mashile, echoed Trollip’s sentiments, saying it would lead to some residential areas not being load shed as they were on the same feeder as a critical facility, defeating the purpose of implementing rolling blackouts.
The judgement was backed by the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (NUMSA) who are part of a group of workers in the organised labour and civil society sector.
“The latest court decision means that government has no choice but to take decisive action to ensure they uphold the court order.”
“They must invest in coal and in the maintenance of coal-fired power stations. They have to restart all the power stations which have been mothballed in order to end load shedding today,” NUMSA’s Phakamile Majola said.
NUMSA welcomes the judgment on Loadshedding, where the High Court, ordered the minister of Electricity to stop #Loadshedding in critical sectors of the economy. Details below 👇🏾@IrvinJimSA #ForTheLoveofTheWorkingClass
❤️🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/sW5qBOxMKa— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) December 3, 2023
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
