Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a Special Cabinet Committee, led by Deputy President David Mabuza, to deliver daily reports to him on the action needed to secure South Africa's energy supply.
The committee's appointment comes after President Ramaphosa came under fire from opposition parties for the crisis at South Africa's state-owned utility firm Eskom, which has implemented load shedding on a daily basis since last weekend.
The president has been vocal in his criticism of the utility which he labelled dysfunctional on Monday. He announced plans to unbundle Eskom into three separate entities during his State of the Nation address last week.
Earlier this week Public Enterprises acting director general Thuto Shomang said Eskom's current debt stands at R435 billion - a staggering 15% of SA's sovereign debt. Parliament also heard that Eskom was technically insolvent and without a bail out the utility could cease to function by April.
Eskom's inability to meet the demands on the power grid has already cost businesses millions over the past few days, especially in the early part of the week when Stage 4 and Stage 3 load shedding saw some parts of the country without electricity for up to four hours at a time.
Other ministers on the committee are Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan; Energy Minister Jeff Radebe, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande, Intelligence Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and Police Minister Bheki Cele.
The decision to appoint the committee was announced on Friday after a special Cabinet meeting.
* Get the latest load shedding schedule here.