The ANC-led government is being called to step aside over the ongoing rolling blackouts and the high price of electricity.

The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) says this should be done alongside the incompetent Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter and its board who must resign.

It believes the energy crisis is being engineered for the privatisation of the power utility. Saftu says tortoise steps were taken from 2007 to expand the generation and distribution capacity of Eskom. It further notes that with, de Ruyter at the helm the state-owned entity has failed to add the obvious solar, wind and storage required to stabilise the grid. De Ruyter is said to have shed more megawatts of electricity than any chief executive before him as load shedding has surged.

Saftu is mobilising support for a national shutdown for next month over what it calls ‘government’s failure to protect the poor’