Phuti Mosomane
Reports say the South African Reserve Bank and other financial market regulators including the Joburg Stock Exchange are making contingency plans for a total grid collapse.
The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank Kuben Naidoo is quoted as saying the financial sector is working on a plan to ensure the orderly closing and reopening of markets after the total shutdown.
“All of that work is ongoing, and we are working quite closely with the telecommunications sector, with diesel suppliers, the banks’ payments industry, and retailers to ensure that we can gradually raise the financial sector’s resilience,” he said in Johannesburg on Monday.
This announcement comes weeks after the EFF’s CIC Julius Malema warned that South Africa is headed for a complete grid collapse and there were denials all round.
Even President Ramaphosa came out and assured South Africans that they would be the first ones to know when the grid collapses.
Energy supply in the country has been at an all time low with businesses and residential areas subjected to up to Stage 6 of load shedding and there were reports that we could be headed for Stage 8 up to 16 this winter.
While a total system collapse is unlikely to occur, it is not impossible, Naidoo said.
He said that the financial sector is doing all it can to try and prevent chaos, prevent panic, and enhance the system’s resilience.
“If you had asked me a month ago, I would have probably said that in the event of a complete grid shutdown, there would be almost no transactions,” Naidoo said.
“Thanks to technology and some planning, we may be able to run some transactions, and we may be able to have some functionality in the system, even if it is for a short period.”
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