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Eskom's Kusile power station.
- John Steenhuisen claims he was chased away from performing his oversight duties at Eskom's Kusile power station.
- He is calling for a state of disaster to be declared because of Eskom's load shedding debacles.
- Pravin Gordhan said Steenhuisen was prevented from entering because he did not follow proper protocol for visiting a power station.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan described DA leader John Steenhuisen's unannounced oversight visit to Kusile power station as a political points-scoring exercise.
During a live broadcast about the country's energy crisis on Wednesday, Steenhuisen said he was prevented from entering Kusile, in Mpumalanga, and could not perform his parliamentary duties.
His visit to the power station in Delmas was part of the DA's campaign to put pressure on Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa to change its strategy in dealing with the country's load shedding crisis.
Responding to Steenhuisen, Gordhan said in a statement that the DA leader had been warned he could not randomly pitch at a coal power station to conduct an oversight visit.
Gordhan's office said proper procedures for such visits had to be channelled through his office, so he could inform Eskom.
ROLLING COVERAGE | Eskom and load shedding news as it happens
The minister said he had personally called Steenhuisen to assure him that a proper visit would be arranged if he needed to conduct oversight.
"I explained to him that Eskom's senior management is busy with important board engagements today. I am willing to make myself available to brief him," said Gordhan.
Steenhuisen did not mention this engagement with Gordhan in his remarks during the live broadcast.
"It is quite clear that this is DA grandstanding that has nothing to do with the energy crisis confronting the country, nor do they have any solutions for the energy crisis, except criticism.
"We have previously debated with the DA, indicating that the issue of the electricity crisis must be treated as a national issue and should not be used as a party-political football in any shape or form," Gordhan said.
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Steenhuisen, in his live broadcast to the party's supporters, said load shedding had to be treated as an issue of national security.
He accused Gordhan and Ramaphosa of being absent on duty while the country suffered.
"Our country will not survive the electricity grid collapse, should it come to that. And that is where we are headed.
"That's why the response to the energy crisis must be treated as a matter of national security and handled with the urgency, scale and focus of a war-like situation.
"The DA has been calling on the government to declare the issues facing Eskom as a state of disaster to allow the release of funding from relief funding.
"The very first thing President Ramaphosa needs to do when he steps off the plane is to declare a ring-fenced state of disaster around Eskom.
"This should have been done months ago, when he presented his energy response plan, and his refusal to concede the urgency and scale of the disaster have now left our grid on the brink of collapse.
"This state of disaster needs to be declared right away, so that disaster relief funding can be reprioritised in order to keep the open-cycle turbines running in the immediate term.
"But, more importantly, a state of disaster will allow government to bypass its own self-imposed obstacles, bottlenecks and cost inflations in the form of unworkable labour legislation, localisation requirements, cadre deployment and preferential procurement," Steenhuisen said.
English (US)