'The ANC can't fix the load-shedding crisis it created': Parties welcome the end of energy state of disaster

Several opposition parties have welcomed the end of the state of disaster to deal with the country’s energy crisis.

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Thembi Nkadimeng this week said all regulations that followed the declaration of the state of the disaster are repealed with immediate effect. The announcement comes almost two months after the state of disaster was implemented.

She said the government, through the energy crisis committee, will continue to engage, co-operate and co-ordinate its actions to reduce and eradicate load-shedding using existing legislation and contingency arrangements.

This includes measures already taken to protect critical infrastructure, facilitate emergency energy generation and protect consumers in terms of relevant competition law.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said the termination was the ANC-led government admitting the state of disaster was never going to be able to solve the country’s ongoing electricity crisis.

“It was not going to survive the legal challenges brought about by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa),” said Mashaba.

“The reality is that two months since the state of disaster was introduced, the electricity situation has not changed with load-shedding stages 4 or higher being a daily occurrence and set to increase as the country enters the cold winter period.

“The government should account for the actions taken under the state of disaster regulations to ensure abuse did not occur, or that they had an adverse impact.”

DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia said a national state of disaster under the guise of dealing with the load-shedding crisis was only going to empower the ANC to abuse procurement processes.

“The reality is that the ANC cannot fix the load-shedding crisis it created,” he said.

Cachalia said now that the ANC has abandoned its fixation with a state of disaster, it should refocus its attention on making electricity generation the biggest priority for the country in the next five years.

“In the short term, South Africa needs to secure the amount of power made available by Eskom’s fleet of power plants to meet the minimum demands of consumers. At the same time, we need to open up — with speed — alternative sources of supply from Independent Power Producers to boost our generation capacity.”

Build One SA movement leader Mmusi Maimane said the state of disaster was a bad idea from day one.

“It was an attempt at going back to the Covid-19 looting season. The minister of electricity is a bad idea, he is even denying that there is corruption at Eskom. The application for exemptions was also a bad idea,” he said.

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