Govt to appeal exemption of hospitals, schools, police stations from load shedding: South Africa

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Minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan has said that the department will be appealing the judgement handed down by the North Gauteng High Court last Friday, 5 May, that hospitals, schools and police stations be exempted from load shedding.

Minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan. Source: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

The court also gave the minister 60 days to ensure that those public facilities have sufficient electricity supply.

Gordhan said the judgement raises serious concerns about Eskom’s efforts to ensure stability of the national grid in the context of the current power constraints.

The country has been on Stage 6 load shedding since Sunday following the delay in return to service of several generation units and breakdowns at power stations.

“The department has studied the ruling and has determined through legal advice that the prudent step to take is to lodge an appeal to set aside the ruling and allow for the ongoing efforts to end load shedding to proceed without putting undue risk on the country’s grid infrastructure,” he said.