President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster, which will take effect immediately in order to address the electricity crisis.
Ramaphosa is giving his State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, outlining the government’s plans to address the energy crisis.
He says this has already been gazetted by the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs.
Livestream:
“We are investing in new transmission lines and transmission, especially in Eastern Cape and KZN in line with our mixed-energy. We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on various areas that support our people’s lives.”
Eskom has committed to acquiring access power from private producers, and “they have acquired approximately 300MW from neighboring countries.”
The Auditor-General (AG) will be brought in to prevent any misappropriation of funds.
#SONA2023 | ” The National Disaster Management Centre has consequently classified the #energycrisis & its impact as a disaster. Therefore, we declare a national disaster state to respond to the #electricitycrisis and its effects.” – President @CyrilRamaphosa #LeaveNoOneBehind pic.twitter.com/MSuga6xkmq
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) February 9, 2023
EXPLAINER- What is causing South Africa’s power crisis?
Eskom’s ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations, most of which were built under apartheid, regularly break down. Often about half of its generation capacity of 46 000 megawatts is offline because of faults or repairs.
South Africa failed to build new power stations to keep up with demand in the years after the end of the white minority rule, when more households and businesses were connected to the grid.
Two huge new coal plants, Kusile and Medupi, were approved for construction in the late 2000s, but they have been beset by delays, cost overruns and technical faults.
CORRUPTION AND CRIMINALITY
Eskom has also been blighted by corruption and criminality. A graft inquiry established in 2018 pointed last year to a string of management failures and a “culture of corrupt practices” at Eskom during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, who was in power for nine years from 2009. Zuma denies wrongdoing.
Eskom’s current management, appointed under Zuma’s successor Ramaphosa, says it continues to be the victim of organised criminal behaviour, citing cases where power station equipment has been deliberately sabotaged, as well as the theft of coal, diesel and copper cables.
In December, the government deployed the army to six Eskom power stations where it said criminal syndicates operated. Last month Eskom said police were investigating the alleged poisoning of its outgoing chief executive Andre de Ruyter, who has tried to clamp down on corruption.
FINANCIAL WOES
Eskom is mired in financial crisis with debt of roughly 400 billion rand that it cannot service without government bailouts.
It is owed tens of billions of rands by municipalities and says the country’s energy regulator has failed to grant it tariffs that would allow it to recover its costs.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to announce a plan for the government to take on between one-third and two-thirds of Eskom’s debt at the 2023 budget later this month, part of efforts to stabilise its finances. -Additional reporting by Reuters
