South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to address nation amid power cuts

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday addressed the nation amid a dire electricity crisis and a bleak economic outlook in his annual State of the Nation Address.

The president is under great pressure. He will soon open a new session of Parliament in Cape Town, the country's most developed city which is also facing long power cuts and high unemployment levels, ABCNews reported.

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The country is not only dealing with the power and employment crisis, butfood and fuel prices have also increased.

The recent power cuts have added to the country's economic woes, which include an unemployment rate of over 30 per cent, where almost two million lost their jobs during Covid.

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

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

The opposition has threatened to disrupt Ramaphosa's upcoming address.

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."

(with inputs from agencies)

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