In order to address the nation’s “existential” power crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a slew of new initiatives, including the proclamation of a disaster, the appointment of a new minister of electricity and loans and incentives to encourage South Africans to switch to solar power.
The president stated that in order to handle the crisis, “we need a single point of command and a single line of march” in his State of the Nation Address on Thursday night. “The National Disaster Management Centre has consequently classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster. We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects,”.
According to reports, South Africa had over 200 days of load shedding in 2022 and not a single day without cuts since the beginning of 2023.
However, Ramaphosa said that the state of disaster, which began with immediate effect, would help with measures to “support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply.
Read also: Official says Switzerland won’t follow EU out of international energy deal
He explained that critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plans would be exempt from load shedding, adding that to deal with the crisis, a minister of electricity has been appointed in the presidency to “assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response”.
“The minister 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.
Ramaphosa also said that as per his energy plan announced last year, the government was “going to proceed with the rollout of rooftop solar panels”.
“In his budget speech, the minister of finance will outline how households will be assisted, and how businesses will be able to benefit from a tax incentive,” the president said.
This story was adapted from Reuters.
