The latest protest by Gauteng residents over stage 6 load shedding appears to be an indicator of the form that service delivery protests will take in the build-up to next year’s national general elections.
Residents in the Boksburg area on Monday barricaded roads with burning tyres and rocks to protest power cuts. The City of Ekurhuleni said in a tweet that calm had been restored to the area just after noon on Monday.
It was reported that regular power cuts had left residents frustrated and they protested in the Dawn Park and Klippoortjie communities and blocked roads.
EMPD spokesperson Deliwe Ndlovu said roads had been closed due to protest action taking place and motorists had been advised to use alternative routes.
On Monday, Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) embarked on a picket outside the offices of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to protest against the 18.65% tariff increase given to Eskom.
The PAC’s Dr Pitso Mphasha said they were calling on Nersa to review the decision to give Eskom such an exorbitant increase.
“Today was just a picket, but it will be followed by a mass protest by opposition parties.
'“There is an engagement taking place between all opposition parties in Parliament.
'“We want to stage a massive protest together and we are encouraging citizens, whether apolitical or not and civil society organisations to join,” said Mphasha, adding that a date for the nationwide protest had not yet been agreed.
Labour federations, Cosatu and Saftu, and political parties have jointly condemned Nersa’s decision to grant Eskom an 18.65% tariff increase, describing the move as a ploy “to plunge ordinary South Africans into further poverty”.