BL Premium reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing a legal challenge over his failure to implement legislation directing energy planning.

Two civil society organisations, namely The Green Connection and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, have initiated legal action against him to bring section 6 of the National Energy Act into operation, and for the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) Minister to develop an integrated energy plan in terms of that law. The organisations said that while there was a strong call to sue the government and Eskom for load-shedding, they were “going straight to the source” in a bid to hold Ramaphosa to account for not bringing this “critical piece” of legislation into operation. Kholwani Simelane of The Green Connection pointed out that Section 6 of the Act required the DMRE to develop and then, on an annual basis, to review and publish the integrated energy plan. “How can we even try to solve this problem of energy supply, including providing electricity to the people of this country, people who have no other option but to rely on what government supplies, without a plan that has been developed in terms of energy legislation?” Simelane asked. Eskom, the national energy regulator and the minister of public enterprises also face multiple court challenges from opposition parties, organised labour and business owners, who have turned to the courts to launch legal action to demand clear and transparent plans to end to load-shedding, a freeze on the implementation of an 18.65% increase in electricity tariffs, and greater transparency in the approvals processes for new renewable energy projects.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Denene Erasmus & Hajra Omarjee at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Lees ook, Eskom voor hof gedaag deur AfriForum oor diensverskaffers kontrakte, by Maroela Media

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