- GOOD called on the Johannesburg mayor to attend to residents' grievances.
- The party said some communities had been deeply affected by constant electricity and water cuts.
- Soweto residents marched to Eskom's headquarters on Wednesday.
GOOD has slammed the Johannesburg mayor, Geoff Makhubo, for not acting with urgency to restore essential services to residents.
The party alleged that communities, such as Eldorado Park, Westbury, Westdene, Sophiatown, Fairland, Northcliff, Hursthill, Crosby, Coronationville, Montclare, Brixton, Lehae, Lenasia and Soweto, had been experiencing loadshedding as well as not having sufficient running water.
This week, South Africans had to contend with rolling blackouts, which will persist until Sunday evening.
Some communities in Johannesburg have had enough - and, on Wednesday, Soweto residents took their grievances to Eskom's headquarters at Megawatt Park in Sandton.
They demanded that the power utility reconnect electricity in some areas of the township, which have been in the dark for more than 10 months.
On Friday, GOOD accused Makhubo of turning a blind eye to the plight of the communities.
The party staged a silent protest outside the Johannesburg Civic Centre, calling for Makhubo to act on the current service delivery failures by his government.
The party said tens of thousands of Johannesburg residents had been left in the dark, and without water, for over a week.
GOOD's Matthew Cook said:
GOOD said, in its October 2019 submission on the Draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), that it requested Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to allow Section 34 determinations (Electricity Regulation Act) to permit capacitated municipalities to procure renewable power directly from independent power producers.
The regulations to permit municipalities to procure renewable electricity directly were published in October 2020.
"Instead of the Johannesburg mayor blaming businesses for keeping their lights on and their employees employed, through procuring their own renewable electricity, maybe he should tell us how far Joburg is in securing a safe, reliable and renewable source of electricity for the city?" said Cook.
The party called on Makhubo to act on the ailing service delivery in the municipality and to stick to his promises, which included keeping the lights on and the water running.
News24 sent a query to the City of Johannesburg, which is yet to respond.