Sona debate: ‘Resolving electricity crisis is top priority for 2023,’ Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that one of the government’s priorities is to resolve the electricity crisis faced by South Africans.

He said that the government has already taken numerous important steps to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding.

Announcement

He added that the measures designed to boost the rollout of rooftop solar by businesses and households, will be announced by the Minister of Finance next in week’s budget meeting.

“That is the reason why I am appointing a special Minister in the Presidency (Minister of Electricity) and the reason why a national state of disaster has been declared.

“As I said last week, this new minister will assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response.

“The minister will be responsible for driving the various actions being coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee to end load shedding as a matter of urgency,” said Ramaphosa.

Effective coordination

According to him, the reality is that the resolution of the energy crisis requires effective coordination across several departments and public entities.

He stated that this matter requires the undivided attention of a political principal who does not need to split their time and energies among different important responsibilities.

Ramaphosa added that the appointment will ensure that there is a minister who is ultimately responsible for resolving load shedding and who is able to work with all fellow Cabinet ministers, departments and entities to do so.

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Confusion

“Some have suggested that the appointment of the minister will cause confusion and fragmentation, and that it might also result in turf wars amongst the ministers who deal with energy and Eskom.

“This is not the case. The Minister of Electricity will be focused day in and out only on addressing the load shedding crisis, working together with the management of Eskom and the board. The minister will be leading the National Energy Crisis Committee and interacting with all other departments in the spirit of cooperative governance,” he added.

Ramaphosa said the state of disaster that was declared last week will be used to mitigate the social and economic effects of load shedding and accelerate the measures necessary to close the shortfall in electricity, and nothing else.

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Sona

He said State of the Nation Address (Sona), we will ensure that environmental protections and technical standards are maintained, and that procurement is undertaken with transparency and proper oversight.

“We will use the state of disaster to get rid of unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles that stand in the way of urgently bringing new generation capacity onto the grid. We will use it to ensure continuity in the provision of critical services and supply chains, and to address the impact of load shedding on businesses and households.”

READ MORE: ‘Declaring Eskom crisis a national state of disaster will reduce load shedding’ – DA