By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has withdrawn a national “state of disaster” after it was first invoked in February to tackle the escalating energy crisis in the country, authorities announced on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa on Feb. 9 invoked disaster regulations to fight the crisis that included daily “load shedding” as known in local parlance by the state-owned utility Eskom.
Power cuts have eased in recent weeks but continue to affect all of South Africa on a daily basis.
“Government has terminated, with immediate effect, the National State of Disaster,” the government said in a statement.
The power crisis has been attribute to the frequent breakdowns at the old coal-powered electricity stations in addition to years of corruption.
State of disaster legislation was first used to enable health authorities to respond more swiftly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some analysts doubted it would help boost the power supply.
Under the “state of disaster”, the government deployed additional powers to respond to the crisis, including by permitting emergency procurement procedures with minimal bureaucratic bottlenecks and less oversight.
The government will now work through its Energy Crisis Committee to reduce the effect of power cuts using existing legislation and contingency arrangements, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Thembi Nkadimeng said in a statement on Wednesday.
As part of efforts to mitigate the effect of the crisis, newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa visited the troubled utility’s power stations in recent weeks.
He had consultations within the government and with Eskom aimed at resolving the electricity shortages, CoGTA said.
Eskom has implemented scheduled electricity outages since the beginning of the year, with most households and businesses without power for up to 10 hours a day.
“Load shedding” has taken a toll on households and small businesses in Africa’s most industrialised nation.
