The severe power outages in South Africa have prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to proclaim a national state of emergency, claiming that they represent an existential danger to the country’s economic and social structure.
Ramaphosa stated in his annual state of the nation address to parliament that “we are in the midst of a profound energy catastrophe.”
“The issue has steadily spread to encompass all facets of society. To decrease the crisis’ effects on farmers, small businesses, our water infrastructure, and our transportation system, action is required.“
Declaring a national emergency offers the government more authority to deal with the crisis, including the ability to use less bureaucratic red tape and approval for emergency procurement procedures.
Although some analysts doubt the legislation will help the government expand the power supply more quickly, it was used to speed up the response time of health officials to the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to Ramaphosa, “the disaster state would enable us to… help enterprises in the food production, storage, and retail supply chain, including for the roll-out of generators and solar panels.”
Electricity minister
Years of sluggish construction of new coal-fired power plants, fraud in coal supply agreements, criminal sabotage, and a failure to loosen regulations to allow for the quick deployment of renewable energy by private providers are all contributing factors to the current electricity shortage.
Ramaphosa promised to appoint an electricity minister to the presidency who would be fully responsible for the situation.
He also promised to continue South Africa’s shift to greener energy, which has been partially sponsored by donors, with anticipated investments of R1.5 trillion over the next five years.
According to him, the government was developing a system for fiscally constrained targeted basic income support for the most disadvantaged.