In a press statement following President Ramaphosa’s announcement in his state of the nation address on Thursday night, trade union Solidarity indicated that it would be instituting legal against the declaration of a national state of disaster to deal with the energy crisis.
“Solidarity’s legal team has already started to prepare urgent court documents, and these will be served on the government in the coming days,” Dr Dirk Hermann, Solidarity Chief Executive, advised. “Poor central control landed us in this crisis. Such poor control in even more measures will not get us out of the crisis. Everything the president announced in the State of the Nation Address can already be implemented by using existing legislation. The harsh reality is that all the instruments to solve the crisis are already at the president’s disposal – he simply chooses not to use them. Therefore, a state of disaster is irrational and unnecessary and leaves Solidarity with no option but to litigate,” Hermann advised. “We dare not allow a repeat of the government’s abuse of power that occurred during the Covid-19 state of disaster. […] A state of disaster will not end the energy crisis any faster, but it opens the door to major abuse once again. This is quite simply a lose-lose situation,” Hermann continued. He said Solidarity’s message to the government was a simple one: “We will solve it (the energy crisis) ourselves; move out of the way and allow us to do this.”
- Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard at Solidarity News
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