Interesting. Pressures mounting. With court cases looming.
Yet I am not excited, more nervous. This may all just push the ANC deeper into the red, and there in the red awaits their little red friends, their spawn: EFF-off.
With less and less to lose the unholy may become the best option for them. Many believe they’ll never coalesce. I don’t see much difference in them.
…grunt…grunt…snouts…must…grunt…stay…in the grunt.
He is not wrong. It isn’t in there.
Even things like water, is a negative right (they cannot deny you access to water), not a positive right (they have to install running water inside your house, wherever you decide to build it).
The constitution only refers to electricity when it allocates the distribution thereof as a function to local government.
However… there is a precedent-setting court case from 2019, Joseph and Others v City of Johannesburg and Others. Here the argument was that they tenants had a right to adequate housing, and housing could not be considered adequate if they were cut off from the electricity that was available in the area (tenants were willing to pay, but the landlord was in arrears).
The article also mentions what I said about water, a negative obligation exists (government may not interfere with legal and/or natural access), but the government cannot force Eskom to give you power.
The law does however give citizens some basis to ask their local governments to do something about it, given that without electricity, certain basic rights (education, housing, and the all important one, dignity, are all infringed).
Personally I fear that “dignity” is a bit of a dangerous one to mess with. One would have to ask whether it is truly impossible to live with dignity when there is no electricity, which I think will be hard.
Do a thought experiment with internet access, if you will. Or pretend it is 1920 and electricity is something only in the cities…
Edit: In hindsight, given that electricity supply issues very quickly leads to sewage issues, and then health issues, yes, I suspect it will become a constitutional issue very quickly.
The EFF since Covid has gone “quiet” compared to before. Now and then that youngster says something of no consequence.The “power” he thought he had with coalitions Gov’s seems to also have petered out a wee bit from before.
And it “feels like” EFF and Co have some troubles in the background with SARS, that VBS Bank issue and then some of the Zondo Commission etc all keeping him quite “busy”.
The EFF even got “chased” away at a school a while back too.
Although Mal-Emma has alluded to “if he goes down so will some others” (my words) if memory serves, that “hold” he has is weakening fast with all of these issues being blown open by De Ruyter, Zondo etc.
Coupled with fewer court cases being “paid for” by the State, that “trough” has also dried up, and the Judges seem to be a lot less under “political influence” than like during the Zuma era.
And the unions are also "quieter’ … losing members and income faster and faster thanks to Lethule house “investments”.
Also think that when this thing does indeed implode, due to probably international/external factors than to voters, then no political party would be tolerated to such an extent going forward for much longer.
So yeah, all these revolutionaries, save SA from Van Riebeeck, with fewer funds, a stricter legal system that is not “state-controlled”, SARS getting the job done … Whistle Blowers lining up … times are getting really tough man. Shame. (Not.)
The writing seems to be appearing on the wall, one letter at a time …and the World is watching.
Hence the court case not so?
The thing I would think to explain to a judge:
I think you are right. Let me rephrase.
Technically he is not wrong. It isn’t in there.
There is a point where neglect becomes criminal. I think we can agree on that.
The inaction of the government directly leads to the conditions which infringes on the very rights they allocated to citizens back in 1996.
The question is whether it can be proven. Well, I am sure it can, but how much time have you got?
Of course, there is an important reason why the government has to push back against this charge. If it does turn out that a serious breach of the constitution has not only happened, but is actively in progress, then technically parliament disbands and new elections is triggered immediately.
A court could, in theory, instruct the government to act… or else…
I’m sure it isn’t that simple though. IANAL either.
But this is the part that they arguably have been doing on the electricity side. They have been actively interfering with electricity production of the country.
The Constitution is the one angle, messy, and tough … me wondering “what if” after the judge rules that out, s[he] puts it on the table for them to answer not under the constitution, but maybe something else, like say the Co’s act or whatnot (IANAL), them being the only shareholder in the SOE, having been the majority party for decades now … now THAT could get interesting.
I have a feeling that incompetence is not a crime. Yes, perhaps it should be, but perhaps voting for incompetent people should also be a crime. I digress.
But, the Hitachi angle (and there must be more like that) could prove interesting. That’s direct interfering, by the ruling party, for money, resulting in the present state. That’s criminal intent, and contrary to what the constitution mandates.
I will let the legal people chase this one. I’m sure we have enough angry ones.
Sikonathi Mantshantsha leaves Eskom at the end of his contract,
That’s a bit sad! There go the regular stat’s!
And in other news …
Andre De Ruyter:
Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, a Bachelor of Law (LLB) which he obtained from the University of South Africa as well as a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pretoria.
Fikile Mbalula:
Education Diploma
Enough said!!!
When the government decided to take on the job of providing electricity for all, they decided that they are also competent to do so. Their failure is one of negligence at best, at worst what effectively amount to treason.
A little side tracked, but since you mentioned voting, it is highly unlikely that anyone that should rule, will rule, in a democracy that gets its rulers through essentially a popularity contest. Surely most of the people entering such a race is just high functioning narcissists? What you really want is a competent but reluctant leader. How do we get those?
Indeed. Mabusa is RET. We’ve known all along, but as you said, he was the price of admission.
RAT, surely?
Ja nee, De Ruyter absolutely cause some amazing results compared to all before him.
This Gordhan … good luck to him. (Not.)
In other better news …
BUT … still that pesky Mantashe fingers everywhere… wonder if he and Mabase have any ties we are not privy to …
Still reading this, its long…
It reminds me of a scene in Back to the Future 2, they have just fixed Marty’s future (by preventing his son from going to jail), and Doc says:
Marty, we’ve succeeded. Not exactly as I planned, but no matter. Let’s go get Jennifer and go home!
In many ways, people may say De Ruyter failed, but then also… it could just be that he didn’t, things just didn’t go exactly as planned.
Also, spoiler alert, old Biff dies behind a dustbin shortly after returning to 2015, because it turns out his wife shot his abusive a** some time in the 90s and he shouldn’t be there anyway… not sure what that is an analogy for, but it makes me feel good today.
I’m about 10% in, and already he’s basically called Ted Blom an idiot. This is going to be a fun read…
Using just two recent events, the 1) Affidavit and 2) the articles DM started publishing.
Both took months, if not years, of investigations, fact-finding, and getting whistle-blowers to trust them both.
And neither would publish, or have an interview, without having substantiating facts.
On top of that, even worse, at risk of, in De Ruyters case, his life, with reporters having also faced similar threats at times.
Lives are literally at stake here.
