As rolling power cuts cripple the economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday declared a national state of disaster over the deepening energy crisis.
This comes amid public outcry over the country’s battered and poorly maintained power utility, Eskom and its continuous implementation of rolling blackouts.
“We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects. The Minister of Cogta has just gazetted the declaration of the state of disaster, which will begin with immediate effect,” Ramaphosa said during his State of the Nation Address.
“The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
“To deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us, I will appoint a minister of electricity in the presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the national energy crisis committee.”
Nuclear physicist, Dr. Kelvin Kemm said an energy state of disaster was a “good move” if it was not abused.
“I imagine that it will allow for rapid action in procurement and certain security measures at power stations,” said Kemm.
“Such measures can be used to advantage but they can also be easily abused.“
He called for careful monitoring to prevent abuse.
However, energy expert Nick Hedley had different views.
“I don’t think it’ s a good thing. It’s not necessary. It could open the doors to more corruption by relaxing governance processes,“ said Hedley.
“There are plenty of solutions to the crisis, the government just needs to implement them with a sense of urgency that it’s not used to,” he said.
“It was estimated that in 2022 alone South Africa endured more than 202 days of load shedding, adversely impacting households and businesses.”
Weekend Argus
