South African president declares 'state of disaster' amid worst power crisis. What is it about?

In a bid to unlock additional power and resources to tackle the worst power crisis in the country, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday declared a national "state of disaster". In his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament, Ramaphosa said the power crisis posed an existential threat to South Africa's economy as well its society.

"We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of which were planted many years ago," Ramaphosa said. Declaring the national "state of disaster" offers the government more authority to handle a crisis. It increases the government's ability to implement new regulations and emergency procurement processes.

South Africa's national "state of disaster" legislation was declared during the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

In addition to the electricity and job crises, the country is also coping with rising food and fuel prices. The recent power outages have made the nation's economic problems worse, including the over 30% unemployment rate and the almost two million job losses that occurred during COVID.

The power utility Eskom is currently unable to produce adequate power due to frequent breakdowns at its ageing coal-fired power stations and years of corruption.

Gwede Mantashe, Energy Minister earlier this week said that the economy is approximately losing almost $56 million daily due to ongoing power blackouts.

Steenhuisen earlier this week, delivering his party’s alternative state of the nation said, "nothing that President Ramaphosa says on Thursday will change this reality. In fact, Ramaphosa is the one who has taken us down this path of failure over the last five wasted years, during which time this country has rapidly gone backwards on every conceivable metric."

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