With no “family meetings” held in recent memory, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa finally appeared in front of the nation on Thursday evening to deliver his state of the nation address (Sona) as the country is in the midst of its worst energy crisis in history.
Ramaphosa said that the electricity shortage has damaged the economy.
“The people of South Africa want action and solutions and want the government to work for them. They simply want to know when load shedding will be brought to an end,” the president said during his address.
Ramaphosa bemoaned issues from the past that has led to the energy crisis the country finds itself in.
The president further said, “What we can do is to fix the problem today, to keep the lights on tomorrow and for generations to come. In July last year, I announced a clear plan to address the electricity shortfall. The plan outlined five key points. Under the new board, Eskom is deploying people to improve the six power stations that contributed to load shedding. Eskom is urgently working to bring back to operation three generating units at the Kusile power station.”
Ramaphosa said that the ailing state-owned power utility, Eskom, is currently recouping the skills that had been lost.
“It has been amazing the way South Africans rallied together and said we must work together to resolve the problems.”
Eskom’s massive debt
The president said that the National Treasury is finalising a solution to ease Eskom’s R400 million debt burden.
He also said that the government will support Eskom to secure additional funding to continue purchasing diesel.
This will help ease load shedding so the power utility is able to operate their diesel-run plants.
On the issues of corruption that theft that the power utility faces, he said that it is being dealt with.
“Our intelligence programme has already resulted in a number of people (43 and growing) being caught.“
The president also said that the government would be going to proceed with roll-out of roof-top solar projects.
Ramaphosa said that the country’s finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, will outline in his upcoming budget how the government will be assisting in these projects and tax relief and other benefits for businesses.
“There are more than 100 projects which are expected to provide over 9000 megawatts of power over time. Eskom will procure emergency power that will be deployed in 6 months which will close the transmission gap. This will included a mix of energy sources, including coal power stations, to fully implement this plan,” Ramaphosa said.
Impact of load shedding
“In a time of crisis, we need a single point of command and a single line of march, as we address the calls of crisis, we also have to address the impact. We must act to lessen the impact on farmers, smaller businesses, the transport network and other sectors that support our people’s lives,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa declares a national disaster
The president said that the national disaster management centre has classified the energy crisis as a disaster.
“We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to deal with the energy crisis.”
The president announced that it has been gazetted and will begin with immediate effect.
This is necessary because an effective response to this crisis involves several different departments and entities that require coordination from the centre of government.
Some of the measures the government will be able to do under the national state of disaster includes:
- Practical measures needed to take to assist a number of businesses.
- Enable us to exempt critical hospitals and water treatment plants.
- Limit regulatory requirements
- Auditor General to monitor spending
Ramaphosa says he will also appoint a Minister of Energy under The Presidency who will focus on the implementation of the energy plan.
The Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, the president said, will remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of Eskom.
The Minister of Electricity will be appointed in the Presidency, and that minister will focus “day and night” on this crisis.
“To deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us, I will appoint a Minister of Electricity in the Presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response,” Ramaphosa said.
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