The South African government has taken the bold but controversial step to declare the ongoing energy crisis as a national state of disaster and will be appointing a new minister of electricity dedicated to ending load shedding.
These were the most prominent measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Parliament last night.
South Africa is currently in the grip of an enduring electricity crisis which has crippled economic activity and stunted growth forecasts as a result of breakdowns of Eskom’s coal fleet.
Ramaphosa said yesterday that restoring energy security was the government’s most immediate priority in this Sona, adding that the energy crisis was an existential threat to the economy and social fabric.
He said the government must spare no effort and must act to lessen the impact of the energy crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on water infrastructure and the transport network.
“The National Disaster Management Centre has consequently classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster,” he said.
“We are, therefore, declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects. The minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs has just gazetted the declaration of the state of disaster, which will begin with immediate effect.”
According to the Government Gazette issued yesterday, Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma declared the state of disaster after considering the magnitude and the progression of the severe electricity supply constraint and the substantial impact caused in a bid to prevent the possible progression to a total blackout.
Ramaphosa said that the state of disaster would enable the government to provide practical measures it needs 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 (UPS) devices.
“Where technically possible, it will enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from load shedding,” Ramaphosa said.
“And it will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements while maintaining rigorous environmental protections, procurement principles and technical standards.”
Ramaphosa downplayed fears of a repeat of the Covid-19 corruption by saying that the auditor-general will be brought in to ensure continuous monitoring of expenditure and to guard against any abuses of the funds.
Ramaphosa also said he would appoint a minister of electricity in the Presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the response to the electricity crisis
To remove any confusion, Ramaphosa said Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan would remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of the power utility.
“The minister of electricity will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding and ensuring that the energy action plan is implemented without delay,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said the government would support Eskom to secure additional funding to purchase diesel for the rest of the financial year.
He said this should reduce the severity of load shedding as Eskom would be able to use its diesel-run plants when the system is under strain.
The struggling power utility has already blown more than double its annual budget for diesel and had been buying an additional 50 million litres a month from PetroSA since November to keep the lights on.
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