On Thursday night from Cape Town's City Hall, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his seventh State of the Nation Address, during which he primarily addressed the nation's electricity crisis. Ramaphosa declared a national state of Disaster in response to the ongoing energy crisis and announced a new position for a “Minister of Electricity” in the Presidency, among other points such as the future of South Africa powered by solar energy.

As a result of over 200 days of load shedding in 2022 and not a single day without power cuts since the beginning of 2023, the National Disaster Management Center has classified the energy crisis and its consequences as a disaster.

According to the findings, the Minister of Electricity will work full-time alongside Eskom to ensure energy action and avoid delays in this area. The Minister of Finance will then go into greater depth about the incentives and subsidies proposed to be implemented to alleviate the crisis once the annual budget speech is heard. This speech will supposably integrate the finding of over 12 Billion Rand worth of diesel used by Eskom in December, the budget implemented thus being overshot by 100%.

From a legal perspective, the aforementioned parties will have to draft and adopt new policies whereby the new minister of energy will, in President Ramaphosa’s words, “assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response”.

The cost and standard of living in South Africa remains unchanged. This year will tell whether the steps outlined by the President will be actioned or whether they are merely lip service.

Written by Carmen Muir

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