CAPE TOWN - The former Eskom war room was renamed the Eskom task team as it met for the first time on Thursday.
An announcement was made in December that the war room would be revived as South Africa slid deeper into an energy crisis.
Deputy president David Mabuza, who heads the task team, said it urgently had to deal with the impact loadshedding had on ordinary South Africans.
“Today’s meeting is in recognition that swift and decisive action needs to be taken to respond to the prevailing crisis of energy supply, which is informed by challenges in Eskom," Mabuza said in a statement.
"We thus have to urgently address the negative impact that power outages are having on the daily lives of the people and the economy. The roadmap presented by Eskom gives an indication that there is now a focused approach to how we respond to this crisis in a much more concrete manner.
"All relevant stakeholders must work together with speed and be focused on resolving this crisis.”
The team includes representatives of Eskom, the State Security Agency, and the ministers of energy, finance, public enterprises, cooperative governance and the presidency.
It was set up by Ramaphosa to provide political oversight and address the Eskom power generation crisis, and to coordinate efforts to see that Eskom has the necessary support as it tries to implement a turnaround plan.
"In this regard, government views the process of ensuring security of energy supply as one of the critical prerequisites for investment, development and sustained economic growth."
Eyebrows were raised recently when Eskom revealed, as it announced that South Africans were to endure loadshedding for at least the next 18 months, that the team had yet to meet.
It was decided that a so-called war room was needed as Eskom experienced its worst shortages yet, forcing it to implement Stage 6 loadshedding in early December.