EFF leader Julius Malema claims load shedding will be implemented on voting day for purposes of “stealing the vote.”
Addressing supporters during a campaign rally in Ekurhuleni over the weekend, the fiery leader cast doubt on the load shedding respite that South Africa has experienced for nearly a month.
Malema on load shedding and ‘stealing votes’
“They say we have 24 days without load shedding, and they say we must celebrate. How can we celebrate that? Load shedding is not gone,” Malema claimed.
“Government says, ‘We have suspended load shedding.’ But people don’t ask, ‘Why do you suspend it?’ They suspended it for a purpose of elections. After elections, load shedding is going to come back. 29 May, stage 6 after voting when the counting starts, they’re going to switch off electricity so that they can steal the votes.”
Malema has joined DA leader John Steenhuisen in casting doubt on the prolonged suspension of load shedding. In an article published over the weekend, Steenhuisen claimed the ANC may be applying pressure on Eskom to “keep the lights on at all costs.”
“It is quite obvious the ANC is prepared to go to extreme lengths to exert pressure on Eskom for political purposes, regardless of the potentially negative consequences for grid stability,” he wrote.
However, Eskom has attributed the respite to sustained generation capacity and adequate emergency reserves. Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa also accused opposition leaders of using load shedding for electioneering purposes.
“Some of them have used [load shedding] as part of a campaign tool, so when you remove it from their arsenal, they’re exposed,” he said.
“Therefore, they resort to unsubstantiated theories, like someone [Steenhuisen] penned what can only be described as preposterous, that is not anchored on facts. Eskom will not enter that space. We are transfixed on the resolution of this problem.”