South Africa declares national state of disaster for Eskom load-shedding
National Disaster Management Centre head Dr Elias Sithole has classified the impact of load-shedding as a national disaster.
Cooperate governance and traditional affairs minister Dr Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma declared the state of disaster via government gazette on Thursday evening.
“Emanating from the classification of this occurrence as a national disaster, in terms of section 26, read with section 23 of the Act, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage the disaster, in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements, is designated to the National Executive,” Sithole stated.
“[I] hereby call upon organs of state to further strengthen and support existing structures established to coordinate and manage the implementation of contingency arrangements in line with the National Energy Action Plan,” he said.
Sithole said this is to ensure that measures are put in place to enable the National Executive to effectively deal with the effects of the disaster and prevent the escalation of severe electricity supply constraints to a total blackout.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the declaration of the state of disaster during his State of the Nation Address.
“The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply,” Ramaphosa stated.
Ramaphosa said he would appoint a Minister of Electricity to the Presidency who would assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response.
This is “to deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us,” he said.
“The Minister of Electricity 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.”
To remove confusion, Ramaphosa said the Minister of Public Enterprises remains the shareholder representative of Eskom to:
- Steer the restructuring of Eskom
- Ensure the establishment of the transmission company
- Oversee the implementation of the just energy transition programme
- Oversee the establishment of the SOE Holding Company.
Ramaphosa also set the stage for a cabinet reshuffle at a later date.
“The process of restructuring government will give us an opportunity to determine the positioning of various areas of responsibilities and how best the various ministries and departments can best serve our national objectives.”
Ramaphosa said government is currently focusing its attention on the energy crisis and will address the restructuring of government in due course.
“This is necessary because an effective response to this crisis involves several different departments and entities that require coordination from the centre of government,” he said.
He said other social partners would be included in a structure similar to the one they set up to drive the vaccine rollout.
“Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. The energy crisis is an existential threat to our economy and social fabric of our country,” said Ramaphosa.
“We must spare no effort, and we must allow no delay, in implementing these measures.”
Responding to media queries, Eskom issued a statement saying that it could not yet comment on Ramaphosa’s announcements.
“With regards to the President’s speech declaring a state of electricity disaster; Eskom will study the detail in the Government Gazette to understand the implications of the declaration before it can provide of any further comment,” the state-owned power utility said.
“With regards to the creation of a new government department for electricity, Eskom is unable to comment on any policy decisions.”
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