Opposition politicians and South Africa’s biggest labor union say they’re readying a lawsuit against the head of the state-owned power company and a government official that oversees it as blackouts cripple the nation.
The co-called demand letter, which pledges a lawsuit if the government doesn’t take certain steps in the coming days, further ratchets up pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa. The crisis already prompted him to cancel a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hold meetings at home with business and labor leaders.
The letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Bloomberg News, demands that Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan end the power cuts, or come up with a time table to do so, and reverse the almost 19% tariff increase awarded to the utility. If they don’t agree to do so by Jan. 20 they will face legal action, seeking relief for the damage caused by the outages by Jan. 23, the document said.
