SSouth Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a “national state of emergency” because of the severe electricity crisis that has been going on for months. In this way, the government can better support companies and households and exempt important facilities such as hospitals from power cuts, Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Union address on Thursday evening before Parliament in Cape Town. He will also appoint a Minister for Electricity, who will be attached to the Office of the President and will deal “day and night” with guaranteeing the power supply again.
In South Africa, the state utility Eskom shuts down the electricity in different regions for several hours every day because the power plants, some of which are getting old and poorly maintained, can no longer meet the demand. There have also been complaints about corruption for years. In addition, there was recently a suspicion of sabotage. The power cuts – called “loadshedding” – not only cause economic damage. They also damage the rest of the infrastructure and have caused problems with the water supply in some places.
As a result, impatience is growing noticeably among the population. “Our most urgent task is to drastically reduce load shedding in the coming months and eventually to end it altogether. In these conditions, we cannot proceed as we normally would,” Ramaphosa said. The state of catastrophe makes it possible to limit regulations and thus accelerate the way out of the crisis.
Criticism of dealing with the electricity crisis
The announcement sparked protests immediately after the speech. The largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), announced that it would go to court. Business associations warned of restrictions on citizens’ freedom and “massive” corruption in the award of contracts, as during the corona pandemic. A coalition of unions and parties had announced in advance that the electricity crisis was foreseeable and therefore not comparable to the pandemic. From their point of view, the electricity is being switched off deliberately in order to bring more independent electricity producers onto the grid and to privatize the energy supply.
The appointment of a new minister is also controversial. “We don’t need a Minister for Electricity. In the end we also have a minister for potholes, a minister for latrines,” said Velenkosini Hlabisa, head of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Eskom reports to the Ministry of Public Enterprises. In addition, there is a separate ministry for energy and mining. Various organizations fear confusion over the duties of the three ministers and power struggles.
The President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) is a highlight of South Africa’s political calendar and a major social event, bringing MPs, former Presidents, dignitaries and the political elite to Cape Town. As the parliament building is still not usable due to a fire a year ago, SONA took place in Cape Town’s old town hall.
As in previous years, however, his performance got off to a turbulent start. MPs from the populist opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) delayed the speech with heckling and incessant requests to speak. EFF President Julius Malema pointed out that the President had taken legal action against Parliament, so he had no right “to speak before us”. He was referring to a report by a Parliament-appointed independent commission of inquiry into the Phala-Phala affair involving large sums of cash at the President’s game farm. Ramaphosa had asked the Constitutional Court to examine the report.
When the speaker of the parliament asked the EFF MPs to leave the hall more than half an hour later, tumult broke out. Parliament security forces and armed police in bulletproof vests intervened as EFF MPs attempted to storm the speakers’ gallery. Some parliamentarians described the police operation as excessive. The spokeswoman, in turn, said the president’s life had been endangered. Attempts to storm the podium before speeches on the State of the Union had not been made before.