With the political circus and belligerent shenanigans of Julius Malema’s EFF shown the door, an under-fire President Cyril Ramaphosa finally got down to the business of delivering his State of the Nation Address (Sona) with the burning issue that has got SA’s 62-million population hot under the collar: the political will to see back of load-shedding, electricity outages and blackouts and the theft of electricity supply and cables.
“They simply want to know when a problem like load-shedding will be brought to an end,” the head of state told a weary nation after Parliament’s security aides moved onto the stage to dramatically disperse the red-overalled MPs who got the boot with their leader, Malema, from the Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, from the Cape Town city hall last Thursday night.
Flashed on TV, the unruly behaviour and stampede onto the stage sent shockwaves through the sitting, and with the EFF quizzed by the media outside, Ramaphosa appealed to the nation: “We need, as a nation, at this time more than any other, to reveal our true character. We need to work together and leave no one behind.’’
Unsurprisingly, a special portfolio was created to handle the energy crisis: “To deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us, I will appoint a Minister of Electricity in The Presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee.’’
The new minister to be announced in the president’s imminent Cabinet reshuffle will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on “ending load-shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay’’.
Pravin J Gordhan, Minister of Public Enterprises, will represent the ANC government at Eskom, where he (or the new minister) has to steer the restructuring of Eskom, establish a transmission company, oversee the implementation of the just energy transition programme and the establishing of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Holding Company.
Ramaphosa’s dangling of a carrot for tax incentives as a ray of light for the solar panel roll-out is expected to also ease the energy crisis, while experts say households and businesses needed to be freed from the curse of Eskom and benefit from tax breaks.
“Our country has, for many months, endured a debilitating electricity shortage that has caused immense damage to our economy. Load-shedding means that households and supermarkets are unable to keep food fresh, water supply is often disrupted, traffic lights do not work and streets are not lit at night. Without a reliable supply of electricity, our efforts to grow an inclusive economy that creates jobs and reduces poverty will not succeed.
Our most immediate task is to dramatically reduce the severity of load-shedding in the coming months and ultimately end load-shedding altogether,’’ he said. Crucially, the president tackled the next pressing issue: the jobs crisis, saying though Covid-19, which claimed two million jobs, failed to “browbeat us into submission or disillusionment’’ by working together, the nation had overcome the health crisis and the economy was larger than before the pandemic.
“Between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022, around one and a half million new jobs were created in our economy. The Presidential Employment Stimulus has provided work and livelihood opportunities to more than one million people.’’ The National Disaster Management Centre has classified the energy crisis and its impact as a national state of disaster; and the police will tackle cable thefts and goings-on at Eskom, having arrested 43 wrong-doers, head-on.
