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WATCH: Gatvol residents demand De Ruyter’s removal outside Eskom HQ
One of the march coordinators said residents would protest until Eskom addressed their demands for reliable electricity supply.
A group of residents from Ivory Park protested outside the Eskom head office in Sunninghill, 12 November 2021. They say they have been without electricity for 7 months and are demanding action. Photo: citizen.co.za/Neil McCartney
A group of concerned residents gathered outside Eskom’s Megawatt Park headquarters in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, to renew the call for the power utility’s CEO André de Ruyter.
This follows a bout of unpredictable and escalating power cuts, moving rapidly from stage 4 to 3 just after the local government elections on 1 November.
Up until 5am on Friday, the country was in stage 2 load shedding.
De Ruyter said during a media briefing earlier this week he would not voluntarily resign from his position, likening this scenario to changing the jockey on a dead horse.
ALSO READ: De Ruyter says he will not resign as load shedding moves to stage 3
But citizens are not convinced.
One of the march coordinators, Prince Rulashe, told Sandton Chronicle they would protest until Eskom addressed their demands for reliable electricity supply.
“As the citizens of South Africa, we came here because we are fed up with load shedding. One of our grievances from our memorandum is that the CEO André de Ruyter must resign or be fired,” Rulashe said.
57-year-old Gladys Duma, another fellow protester, who resides in Ivory Park, Tembisa, said her oxygen-dependant son died after a transformer burnt down four months ago.
ALSO READ: Blaming Eskom staff for load shedding is unfair, says union
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshatsha told Sandton Chronicle he knew of the march after seeing a post on social media, but did not say if he was aware of the demonstration before it began.
Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Wayne Minnaar told the publication the metro had not received any formal applications or notifications about the march.
If it goes ahead, it will be an unprotected protest,” he said earlier on Friday.
Edited by Nica Richards.
This article first appeared on Caxton publication Sandton Chronicle, by Phathu Luvhengo. Read the original article here.
