THE Democratic Alliance (DA), on Wednesday, warned President Cyril Ramaphosa against declaring a State of Emergency over the country’s energy crisis, saying it will reject such action.
“We will reject any action taken to declare a State of Emergency,” said the party in a statement on Wednesday.
“When the DA held a Press Conference on the 12 May 2022, we made the point that a ring-fenced State of Disaster should be declared on Eskom and the Electricity sector. A ring-fenced State of Disaster would act as an enabler to remove impediments for the full participation of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and bringing of new generation capacity online in the shortest time possible.”
“Only a ring-fenced state of disaster will, in the short-term, help South Africa secure the amount of power made available by Eskom’s fleet of power plants to meet the minimum demands by consumers, in addition to opening up – with speed – alternative sources of supply to meet the nation’s requirements.”
The DA said a State of Emergency was too extreme and that it exceeded the bounds of reasonableness. It largely blamed the crisis on administrative red tape and stonewalling by Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe of independent power production.
“A State of Emergency is not the appropriate action to take in response to the crisis and the DA will reject it outright should such a step be taken,” said the party.
However, it said a “ring-fenced State of Disaster” should be declared on Eskom and the electricity sector, explaining that it would remove barriers for independent power producers (IPPs) to quickly bring generation capacity online.
“With South Africa being in the middle of an economically damaging energy crisis, a ring-fenced State of Disaster, fully accountable to Parliament, can be an effective tool to remove red tape and unlock investment in new generation capacity,” the DA said.
Last week Ramaphosa said that he will, in the coming days, announce a way forward in tackling load-shedding, which has worsened significantly over the past three years and has intensified in recent weeks to the point of being implemented at Stage 6.
STAFF REPORTER|
