Cabinet lekgotla probes proposal to declare state of disaster

With the ongoing crippling loadshedding, the government is investigating whether the crisis fulfills legal requirements for the declaration of the state of disaster.

Addressing the media on Thursday on deliberations of the cabinet lekgotla, which is under way in Pretoria, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said the government is probing calls for the declaration of the state of disaster.

“I have asked my team to analyse the impact of the state of disaster. We hope to, in a short space of time, give a report [on the findings of the investigation into the state of disaster]. What government does with that is not in my hands,” Gungubele said.

When the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic in 2020, government declared a national state of disaster, which empowered it to take measures that saved countless lives and prevented many people from becoming severely ill.

“There is a strong desire in government to find ways of ending loadshedding as quickly as possible. There are a lot of interventions [that government is implementing to address the energy challenge] … We are fast-tracking emergency power, the issue of skills, and upping the ante in terms of maintaining the plants.

“Those are the issues that are within our hands. Of course, there is a call … that the state of disaster declaration [would] help us jump other processes, which sometimes do not respond to the situation.

“There is a legal base [that needs to be fulfilled], investigations are being done. I hope we will be advised as quickly as possible in a manner that is consistent with the crisis that we are confronted with,” Gungubele said.

He assured the nation that work is under way to improve the performance of power stations to reduce stages of loadshedding and bring more capacity onto the grid as quickly as possible.

“There is a clear plan, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2022, to ease loadshedding and then to end it. The plan was developed through extensive consultation and endorsed by energy experts.”

Since the adoption of the Energy Action Plan, progress has been made on several areas, including:

• The licensing requirement for embedded generation projects has been removed. Since South Africa first raised the licensing threshold to 100 megawatts (MW), the pipeline of private sector projects has grown to more than 100 projects, with over 9 000MW of capacity. The first of these projects is expected to connect to the grid by the end of 2023.
• Agreements have been signed with independent power producers for 26 renewable energy projects, which together will generate about 2 800MW. Construction on these projects will start soon.
• An additional 300MW has been imported through the Southern African Power Pool, and negotiations are under way to secure a potential 1 000MW from neighbouring countries.
• Eskom has also launched a programme to purchase up to 1 000MW of power from companies with existing generation capacity for a period of three years.
• The government has cut red tape and streamlined regulatory processes, reducing the timeframes for environmental authorisations, registration of new projects, and grid connection approvals.
• The government has established a team of independent experts to work closely with Eskom to diagnose problems at poorly performing power stations and take action to improve plant performance. Six power stations have been identified for particular focus over the coming months in order to recover additional capacity.

Assessing government’s performance

Ramaphosa has convened government leaders at the cabinet lekgotla to discuss government priorities for the year ahead. Leaders representing all spheres of government are attending the lekgotla.

They included ministers, deputy ministers, premiers, directors-general and leadership of the South African Local Government Association.

The outcome of the meeting will plot a way forward which will be announced by the president during the State of the Nation Address on February 9.

Gungubele told the media that discussions will be on energy, interest rates, crime, poverty, unemployment (especially youth joblessness), and inequality.

“This lekgotla is going to spend a lot of time analysing our performance and answering the question: ‘What are the key programmes that can make a difference in a short space of time during the course of this year’?

“In other words, how is the infrastructure performing? Where are the gaps and how do we correct that? [Discussions will also include] the state of service delivery, as there is a huge challenge in this area.

“There are a number of people who don’t have access to water and ablution services, all the dignity services that are mainly delivered by local government,” he said.

The meeting will also tackle government’s fiscal goals and keep the commitments it has made in this regard.

“We need to find a balance between a fiscal deficit and the debts that must be paid out. There is a challenge about the fiscal deficit, that it must be kept within a particular level. At the same time, we must have [the] money available to contribute to service delivery, infrastructure, and all other growth-enhancing interventions.” – SAnews.gov.za