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05 April 2019

Eskom as a State Owned Entity (SOE) has a legal obligation to provide electricity to the people of South Africa.

Yet, our country has recently suffered unprecedented power outages and rolling black outs due to a seemingly never-ending energy crisis at the national energy supplier.

De Beer Attorneys Inc are currently preparing to take legal action against Eskom in respect of the preventable losses suffered by businesses as a result of “load shedding”. 

Legally, if the business in question had a specific contract with Eskom regarding the provision of electricity, then Eskom’s negligent conduct which resulted in the causing of the power supply failure, will form the basis of our claim.  

If the claim based on delict, then we will again need to prove that Eskom’s conduct was wrongful and/or negligent. Here, we can expect that Eskom’s position would no doubt be that “load-shedding”, per se, is neither wrongful for negligent – in so far as it is a rational, responsible response to the electricity crisis, ensuring that SA’s electricity grid will not collapse, which would be an unmitigated disaster. 

However, it can be argued that the electricity crisis itself is something which is of Eskom’s own making – due to their negligence in maintaining the electricity infrastructure. As such, they should still be held accountable for the losses suffered. 

Each case would no doubt have to be evaluated on its own merits.

We are calling on all affected businesses and Public Benefit Organisations who have suffered clear, quantifiable losses as a result of Eskom’s scheduled power outages, as well as public interest groups who wish to hold Eskom to account, to please contact us at eskom@debeerattorneys.com. 

Press release: De Beer Attorneys Inc

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