Cape Town - Load shedding and the electricity price increase continue to lead to more court battles this week as two civil society organisations, the Green Connection and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (Safcei), initiated a legal challenge against President Cyril Ramaphosa and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.
The two groups hope to get to the source of one of the problems of energy planning in South Africa by using court action to force Ramaphosa to bring Section 6 of the National Energy Act into operation, and for Mantashe to develop an Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) in terms of that legislation.
This court application seeks to review the president’s “failure or refusal” to bring Section 6 of the National Energy Act into operation, and to demand that he brings it into operation now.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Presidency would go through the court papers and respond accordingly.
The Green Connection advocacy officer Kholwani Simelane said this section required the energy minister to develop and then, on an annual basis, review and publish the IEP – which would integrate economic, environmental, political and social interests and set the context in which energy-related decisions should be made.
“Section 6 also requires that IEP takes into account various important issues and other government plans, as well as having a 20-year planning horizon.
“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 said.
The groups have been calling for this for over two years with no success.
The groups said Section 6 was passed by Parliament, but was never brought into operation and as a result since 2008, decision-makers had been carrying out energy planning without a proper legal framework.
The organisations believe the lack of a proper updated energy plan lies at the root of the country’s current energy problems.
Safcei executive director Francesca de Gasparis added that they decided to join The Green Connection in taking the government to court because South Africa was in an energy crisis that seemed to be worsening with each political decision made.
“If we had an IEP, we should see better decision-making that would not require legal action. People of faith are concerned about the energy crisis and are raising their voices.
“Electricity provision is a basic right and a service that should be provided for all who live in South Africa, and it is those most vulnerable in society who are being hardest hit,” De Gasparis said,
On Monday the court papers were issued from the Western Cape High Court and served to the president and the energy minister who are required to provide a record detailing why Section 6 has not yet been brought into operation within 15 days.
