Ramaphosa criticised for claiming SA will overcome load-shedding like it did apartheid

President Cyril Ramaphosa has received backlash for likening load-shedding to apartheid.
Image: TimesLIVE

President Cyril Ramaphosa has been criticised for comparing the current nationwide power cuts to apartheid.

Speaking at a Human Rights Day commemoration in Sharpeville, Gauteng, on Thursday, Ramaphosa said: “We will overcome it [electricity crisis] just as we overcame the apartheid challenge.”

Earlier this week, Eskom attributed stage 4 load-shedding to plant breakdowns and Tropical Cyclone Idai, which swept through parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The power utility rolled out stage 4 power cuts that disrupted the day-to-day life of South Africans for days on end, leaving people without electricity for four hours every day.

Eskom said load-shedding would continue on Friday at stage 2, from 9am to 11pm, due to a capacity shortage.

Despite the challenges they face, South Africans criticised Ramaphosa for comparing the current electricity crisis to 46 years of apartheid and took to social media to express their views.

Pres. Ramaphosa says we must over come load shedding just like we did apartheid.
Hello! People died, some imprisoned during apartheid.
— KgopisiZA (@france_kgopisi) March 22, 2019

"South Africa will overcome load shedding like we did apartheid" Ramaphosa loves making slogans shem wa bora.
— Free Palestine🇵🇸🇿🇦 (@RoyaltyInMy_DNA) March 21, 2019

If Ramaphosa is comparing Load shedding with apartheid then this is unfair for us people of this country to experience another cruelty. So South Africans we need a change of government indeed. Give DA a chance.
— I Am For SA Poor of The Poorest (@SonugwaneN) March 21, 2019

SA will overcome load shedding like we did Apartheid – says Ramaphosa.
A tentative way of telling us load shedding is here for at least 46yrs, and it’s effects will be felt 50yrs afterwards. Don’t say he didn’t warn you
— Fana Mokoena (@fanamokoena) March 21, 2019