Malema: South Africa will go on stage six load-shedding after elections

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema has defended his earlier comments on JJ Tabane on the Frank Dialogue show that the party would consider going into coalition with the ANC if EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu was given the position of finance minister.

Speaking at an EFF event with the media in Johannesburg on Friday, Malema also said Eskom will hit stage six load-shedding a day after the 29 May elections.

On Friday, he said no one could say Shivambu should not be a minister of finance because he has not stolen any money.

“Floyd has not stolen any money and only illiterates can reject a young intelligentsia. The man is gifted and he knows these things. By his head, he can tell you every little cent where it’s being spent by who.”

“He tells you about every single South African company, the CEO, how much it makes and how much money it pays for taxes without reading anything.”

He added that Shivambu was a man who understood the country’s economy, the continent and the world at large.

“He is highly qualified and is now going for his third master’s. He’s going to collect it next week in London, not some TVET college there in Seshego.”

Regarding Eskom and load-shedding, Malema said: “I can tell you after 29 May after voting and everything closes, we are going to stage six. They are holding it there and to the detriment of the grid. They did it during the Rugby World Cup [in 2023], they kept the light on because they are using the remaining reserves.

“When we came back from that, they said stage six so that they can recover what they were using to keep the lights on for the World Cup.”

This was not the first time Malema has criticised Eskom and those in charge of electricity. 

In May 2023 he said: “In the next two weeks — we’ve been warned — there’s going to be darkness. We are almost at the point of grid collapse and it’s a reality South Africans must know. We are heading to darkness and ANC politicians are continuing business as usual as if we are not in a crisis. We are in a deep, deep, deep crisis.”

On Thursday, Eskom said in a statement that there had been 21 days without load-shedding and it remained committed to ultimately eliminating the rotational power outages.

The power utility has kept the lights on for at least 535 hours, a feat last achieved nearly two years ago, according to the statement. “This is a result of sustained generation capacity, adequate emergency reserves, and reduced electricity demand from the grid. The last time Eskom achieved a similar milestone was in June 2022, with 20 consecutive days without load-shedding.”

Malema said on Friday that Eskom has not said it has ended load-shedding but rather that it remained suspended.Malema also said there is no sabotage at Eskom but rather that those in charge didn’t know what they were doing. “Sputla [Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa] is busy over nothing.”