Ramaphosa declares power crisis a national disaster, to appoint ‘minister of load shedding’
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the energy crisis as a national disaster during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
The declaration, which has already been gazetted, is meant to fast-track government’s efforts to tackle the electricity shortage that has put the brakes on economic growth.
"We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its impact," Ramaphosa said in Cape Town City Hall.
The president’s address was once again delayed by the EFF, who were removed from the hall after it tried to block Ramaphosa from delivering his speech.
“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,” Ramaphosa explained.
“Where technically possible, it will enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from load shedding.
“And it will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements while maintaining rigorous environmental protections, procurement principles and technical standards.”
Opposition parties and civil society organisations have expressed concern that the state of disaster could lead to the type of corruption seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Auditor-General will be brought in to ensure continuous monitoring of expenditure, in order to guard against any abuses of the funds needed to attend to this disaster,” the president assured.
Ramaphosa also announced that he will appoint a minister of electricity in the Presidency.
He said the minister will focus full-time on working with Eskom to end load shedding.
“So as to remove any confusion, the Minister of Public Enterprises will remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of Eskom, ensure the establishment of the transmission company, oversee the implementation of the just energy transition programme, and oversee the establishment of the SOE Holding Company.
“The process of restructuring government will give us an opportunity to determine the positioning of various areas of responsibilities and how best the various ministries and departments can best serve our national objectives.
“We are focusing our attention on the energy crisis right now and will address the restructuring of government in due course.”
