- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national “state of disaster” over his country’s crippling power shortages, saying they posed an existential threat to the economy and social fabric.
- The power cuts are expected to reduce economic growth in Africa’s most industrialized nation to just 0.3% this year.
On Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national “state of disaster” over his country’s crippling power shortages, saying they posed an existential threat to the economy and social fabric. The electricity crunch has been years in the making, a product of delays in building new coal-fired power stations, corruption in coal-supply contracts, criminal sabotage and failures to ease up regulations to enable private providers to bring renewable energy on tap swiftly.
During his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament, Ramaphosa said, “We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis. The crisis has progressively evolved to affect every part of society. We must act to lessen the crisis’s impact on farmers, small businesses, our water infrastructure and transport network.”
State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark, disrupting manufacturing and hurting businesses of all sizes. The power cuts are expected to reduce economic growth in Africa’s most industrialized nation to just 0.3% this year.
Source: Global News Network