Hon Deputy Speaker, in hon Singh's short-sightedness and overzealous desire to spew out a populist diatribe, he has neglected the fundamental necessity to ensure the security of the electricity supply for our country in order to support our economy and the Eskom build programme. Our economy is vibrant and growing, and we need more generation capacity. However, the truth is that the fiscus cannot be expected to shoulder all of this burden.
Another truth is that in Eskom's application they have proposed an alteration in the incline block tariffs, IBT, system in order to cushion the poor even more. Our people are not so stupid as to be gullible regarding such untruth from the leader of an organisation that has been roundly and emphatically rejected by the people of KwaZulu-Natal - more with each passing election!
The National Energy Regulator of SA, Nersa, is going to open the process of public hearings in order to allow the views of our people on the Eskom tariff application to be aired. The matter will be decided after those processes. The mark-ups also need to be discussed by all the relevant stakeholders.
It is necessary that we do everything we can to support Eskom to keep the lights on and, moreover, that we congratulate it on the fact that even as the currency stream is very tight, it has succeeded in keeping the lights on.
The responsibility of those who lead is higher and more difficult than that of those who can only shout from the sidelines, knowing that they shoulder no responsibility whatsoever to do anything at all. Thank you. [Applause.]