President Cyril Ramaphosa has doubled down on his governing model of crisis “command centres”, defending the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) as the mechanism that helped end load shedding and announcing that the government is moving to establish a National Water Crisis Committee.
Responding to the debate in his State of the Nation Address on Wednesday, Ramaphosa mocked critics who derided NECOM as “yet another committee”. He argued that it succeeded because it was not designed as a talk shop but as an execution machine.
“There were groans from some quarters, who said, ‘Yet another committee’,” he said.
Hands-on approach to solving problem
“Yet what NECOM did was to bring together all the key role-players… It was never about meetings and talk shops. It was about taking a hands-on approach to solving the problem.”
Ramaphosa said NECOM drew on expertise across the state and from outside government. It brought together “the best experts in South Africa and around the world”. And it built a platform for collaboration with social partners.
He linked NECOM’s work to Eskom’s generation recovery plan. And he noted that Eskom increased its average Energy Availability Factor from 56% in April 2023 to about 65% “at present”.
He said there is a pipeline of more than 220 GW of renewable projects at different stages of development. And that the minister of electricity and energy is leading the build of more than 14, 000km of new transmission lines.
State-owned transmission company
Ramaphosa said the next phase — establishing a fully independent, state-owned transmission company — is one of the most important reforms in South Africa’s recent history.
He announced that he has created a dedicated task team under NECOM that reports directly to him. It involves the presidency, the electricity ministry, finance ministry, and Eskom.
“This is a complex process,” he said. And he added that the value of such structures is to break down silos and strengthen intergovernmental cooperation.
Ramaphosa said the government has applied the same approach to logistics. This was done through the National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC). And he claims measurable improvements in freight rail and port performance. He cited collaboration between Transnet and the private sector that resulted in a 50% reduction in security incidents on the coal line to Richards Bay. And a sharp drop in cable theft, from 180km stolen in 2024 to 59km in 2025.
He said that 2026 will be an important year in logistics reform. This as private rail companies start operating on the freight network. And the private sector expands its participation in port and rail infrastructure, all while maintaining public ownership of strategic assets.
“We are retaining public ownership of our strategic national assets,” he said. Private trains will run on state-owned lines, and private power producers will supply electricity over a state-owned grid, he said.
Ramaphosa said the government is now preparing a National Water Crisis Committee to respond to municipal supply disruptions and secure long-term water resilience, which includes stronger regulation, faster municipal interventions, and investment in infrastructure.
