Eskom tarrif hike
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The Democratic Alliance submitted court documents in support of its request for an interdict to prevent the energy regulator National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) from imposing an 18.65% price increase Thursday.

The news came after the party's leader, John Steenhuisen, said during a virtual press conference, Tuesday, that he had instructed lawyers to file a high court application. "I can announce that I have instructed our lawyers to apply directly to the High Court of South Africa to stop the implementation of this tariff increase," he said, as per the statement released by the DA.

Among the respondents listed in the application were Nersa, Eskom, the president, the minister of public enterprises, the minister of natural resources and energy, and the finance minister.

"The DA rejects this astronomical increase. We reject constant load shedding and we reject government's poor response and President Cyril Rampahosa's lack of response to the biggest crisis our country has faced in the history of our democracy," said Steenhuisen.

The party expressed worry that in addition to having to spend a third of 2022 without electricity and cope with the continued Stage 6 load shedding, South Africans will now also be forced to foot the cost for Eskom's theft and poor management through unreasonable rate increases.

In addition, the DA plans to march on Luthuli House next Wednesday to express its worries about the egregious corruption that has caused the nation's energy crisis. "This power to the people march is directed at the ANC, whose corruption and policy of cadre deployment is directly responsible for the energy crisis that we find ourselves in," the DA said, as reported by IOL.

According to DA's national spokesperson, Solly Malatsi, legal action was required to force the government to act in the best interests of the nation's population, including shielding them from the blackouts and prohibitively high electricity prices.

South Africans have experienced power outages for years, but 205 days of rolling blackouts in 2022 set a new record as old coal-fired power reactors failed and state-owned power provider Eskom battled to find the money to fuel backup generators with diesel. Additionally, up until this moment, 2023 had also been plagued by outages. The situation worsened last week when Eskom declared it would implement extra cuts due to problems at 11 coal-fired generating plants.