The national state of disaster was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his state of the nation address in parliament last week, along with other interventions, to address the power crisis such as the establishment of a ministry of electricity in the presidency.
During a virtual press briefing, head of project management in the private office of the president Rudi Dicks said it was not intended to stop the national energy crisis committee from implementing its plan to address the load-shedding crisis. “We want to have a clear line of sight. We want to address this soon and get rid of the cumbersome red tape. The state of disaster is designed to provide that leeway so that we can have that implementation.”
He said the national state of disaster also meant Eskom got exemptions from new generation regulations to generate power without the usual hindrances. Eskom is finalising 400MW through standard offer purchase and emergency purchase mechanisms, he added. “Let’s cross that bridge [litigation and court rulings] when we get to it. The government has acted within the law. For now, we have the urgent energy action plan that is the top order of government’s business, and the aggressive implementation of that plan is what we are about now,” said Currin.