Rolling blackouts: DA reiterates call for Eskom State of Disaster while Ramaphosa is missing in action
4 May 2022
Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Ghaleb Cachalia MP
In recent weeks South Africans have seen more of Eskom CEO André de Ruyter than of the President of the country, Cyril Ramaphosa.
It beggars belief that while South Africa has once again been plunged in loadshedding - this time around for six consecutive days - President Ramaphosa is nowhere to be seen or heard.
Rolling blackouts are the single greatest threat to South Africa's economic recovery.
The DA has long called for government to put Eskom's 14-year loadshedding problem at the top of its priority list. However, President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to deliver the strong leadership and direction that is required, time and time again.
We reiterate our call for Eskom to be declared a State of Disaster. This will ensure, among other things that a moratorium is placed on unnecessary regulatory requirements, to allow provinces and municipalities that have the resources and capacity to generate electricity do so more expeditiously. Further, this can help remove existing red tape for IPPs, because at this current rate South Africa could face decades more of continuous loadshedding.
The DA will hold press briefing in the coming week to unpack the Party's recently adopted Electricity and Energy policy, which will shed more light on this.
President Ramaphosa must act in South Africa's best interests and take on board our provisions for a State of Disaster on Eskom.
The ANC government must stop denying reality and acknowledge that South Africa is in the middle of an electricity emergency. They must choose between appealing to ideologues and preventing Eskom from further destabilising the country.
South Africans, who agree that it is time for the President to do what is best for the country, can sign our petition here: https://petitions.da.org.za/p/
Issued by Ghaleb Cachalia, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 4 May 2022
