By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says his department would file an urgent appeal to set aside a judgment handed down by the North Gauteng High Court Friday.
The court ordered government to exempt all public hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations from loadshedding.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, ordered Gordhan to “take all reasonable steps within 60 days” to make sure there is sufficient electricity supply to the facilities.
Gordhan must also ensure that generators and other alternate energy supplies are secured to prevent power cuts.
The situation at hospitals was plainly untenable, with those who had generators having to take money from fuel out of their limited budgets for medicines and salaries, and the same applied to public schools and police stations, the judgment said.
“The police stations and schools are even worse off, they simply close or shut down during load-shedding.”
In a statement, Gordhan said that the Department of Public Enterprises had “serious concerns” about the implications of the court ruling on the current efforts to stabilise the national grid and to get the country out of load shedding.
“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,” Gordhan said.
“While the department respects the independence of the courts, in this case the department believes that the judgment would have unintended consequences and undermine the very efforts to balance the protection of the rights that were ventilated in this case, with the need to stabilise and protect our grid infrastructure,” Gordhan said.
The decision comes following statements by presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya that an appeal would be “very likely”.
The court then reserved judgment in part B of the case.
The United Democratic Movementn (UDM) and 18 other litigants had approached the court to compel government to exempt essential services like public health institutions and schools, among others, from load shedding.
They also applied for exemptions on water and sanitation services, small businesses that deal in perishable goods, and cellphone networks from rolling blackouts.