Cosas calls for the sacking of Pravin Gordhan and Andre de Ruyter

By: Sello Theletsane

The Congress of South African Students (Cosas) is calling for the sacking of Minister of enterprises Pravin Gordhan and Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter for failure to keep the lights on.

The organisation says the inability of the power utility to keep the lights on when learners are writing exams will have a severe impact on the future of the country. Cosas president Thabang Mokoena says they have noted with dismay the deliberate sabotage of Matric Examinations by implementing load-shedding during examinations.

“The Andre De Ruyter led institution has not only failed to provide consistent electricity to the people of South Africa, it has also proven beyond any reasonable doubt that it does not care about the future of our country as lights are turned off when multitudes of our learners are sitting for examinations which are likely to determine their future,” Mokoena says.

He added that De Ruyter continually portrays maximum arrogance as he knows that the independent education sector does not depend on Eskom to keep its lights on.

“He is eagerly focused on making darkness the block which deprives the black and marginalised masses of learners an opportunity to stay tuned and focused when writing their examinations. In the process of the mounting calls to fire the arrogant and deceitful De Ruyter, we are calling upon all municipalities, more especially the ANC run to defy and boycott any call which says there must be any sort of load-shedding in the country until our learners have completed their examinations,” he says.

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The call comes as the country finds itself in the middle of Stage four load shedding, which is expected to end on Friday morning. The statement also comes on the backdrop of the ruling party having called for decisive leadership in government to deal with load shedding.

Spokesperson Pule Mabe in the statement said the latest bout of load-shedding was despite a commitment by De Ruyter to contain load-shedding and ease disruptions to the power supply in mid-October.

“The ANC is further concerned that the announcement made by Eskom coincides with the first day of final examinations for thousands of Matriculants across the country who must have the opportunity to study and write their exams uninterrupted by power outages. Given the inconsistency in information and assurances received from the utility, the ANC is, by all intents and purposes, quite concerned that these acts may be the deliberate actions of some within Eskom for political ends,” Mabe said.

“To this extent, the ANC demands unequivocal answers on the current state of power supply. The mixed messages and lack of public transparency and accountability witnessed are a source of grave concern and suspicion. It is also a direct affront to the ANC’s commitment in our manifesto to ensure a safe and reliable electricity supply to our communities,” he added.

Mokoena is of the view that Gordhan has given De Ruyter a blank canvass to do as he pleases with no reprimanding for lack of delivery.

“De Ruyter has been given a license to operate freely by Pravin Gordhan as he is only focused on growing the meat on his neck and is not helpful either to the ANC or the country. The two men are toxic to the country, and they must all be gone. Except for that, we will take action ourselves, which will result in our learners boycotting examinations every time lights go off,” he says.