South Africa revokes ‘state of disaster’ over power crisis
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a “state of disaster” in February in an attempt to defuse South Africa’s power crisis.
South Africa has withdrawn a national “disaster state” declared in February to contain a crippling electricity crisis, the government said on Wednesday.
On February 9, President Cyril Ramaphosa invoked contingency measures to combat the crisis, including daily rolling power cuts by state-owned Eskom due to frequent breakdowns of its aging coal plants and years of corruption.
The rampage gave the government additional powers to respond to the crisis, including allowing emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight.
The government will now work through its Energy Crisis Committee to mitigate the impact of power outages using existing legislation and emergency regulations, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Thembi Nkadimeng said in a statement on Wednesday.
As part of efforts to mitigate the impact of the crisis, newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has visited the power plants of the troubled power company in recent weeks. He consulted within the government and with Eskom to resolve the electricity shortages, according to CoGTA.
In its own words, the cabinet has decided to terminate the disaster scheme in view of these developments.
State of disaster legislation was first used to enable health authorities to respond more quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some analysts questioned whether this would help bolster the power supply.
It was also challenged in court by OUTA, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting government corruption and tax abuse.
“The state is withdrawing the national state of disaster in response to OUTA’s legal action challenging its rationality,” the organization said in response to the retraction.
OUTA said the contingency arrangements would have allowed for corruption and the crisis could be managed using existing laws.
Eskom has implemented scheduled blackouts since the beginning of the year, with most households and businesses without power for up to 10 hours a day.
The cuts, known locally as “load shedding”, have taken their toll on households and small businesses in Africa’s most industrialized country.
The utility said it would not comment on the state of the disaster withdrawal until it had contact with the government.