The South African President addressed parliamentarians in Cape Town on Thursday, February 9, on the occasion of his annual address on the state of the nation. The South African president has declared a state of national disaster, as he did for Covid, in the face of an unprecedented energy crisis.
This emergency measure comes as the national company Eskom fails to produce enough energy. With its aging coal-fired power plants, the country experienced 2022 one of the worst years in terms of load shedding.
While the protests have multiplied in recent weeks, and again this Thursday. February 9, a few streets from Cape Town City Hall, the South African president has decided to use drastic measures in the face of power cuts:
According to the Head of State, this measure, applied with immediate effect, should make it possible to better centralize the actions deployed and speed up the implementation of some projects, avoiding administrative deadlocks. And despite the announcement of a cabinet reshuffle, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the creation of a new “electricity minister” post to be “assigned to the presidency”.
“Whatever temporary bad times, and problems we have, we will face them jointly and overcome them together,” said President Cyril.