Ramaphosa: Broad consensus in ANC for power crisis to be declared state of disaster
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa
says the party’s national executive committee has reached a broad consensus
that the electricity crisis needs to be declared a national state of disaster.
"There was talk about a declaration of a national state of disaster like what we did when we faced Covid-19 and there is broad agreement that we should move in that direction,” Ramaphosa said on Monday evening.
Ramaphosa made the remarks during his closing address at the party's NEC lekgotla in Ekurhuleni.
He said the party's leaders acknowledge that plans to end load shedding must be rolled out sooner, rather than later.
READ: Sihle Zikalala is headed to the National Assembly
"It was observed that it would be necessary to have the state of disaster because that will enable us to have the instruments that will be necessary to fully address the challenge our nation faces."
South Africans have had to grapple with an inconsistent power supply since the end of last year, with stage 4 load shedding in place until further notice.
“Work is already underway within government to establish whether the legal requirement for the declaration of the national state of disaster are met and what specific actions we will be empowered to undertake to urgently resolve load shedding within the framework of the national state of disaster,” Ramaphosa said.
