President Ramaphosa declares ‘state of disaster’ as blackout hits South Africa
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a “national state of disaster” due to ongoing power outages that have disrupted businesses that rely heavily on electricity and made refrigerators as warm as cupboards, disrupting transportation, communications, and other essential services.
“We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effect,” announced Mr Ramaphosa in his 2023 state-of-the-nation address Thursday evening. “The people of South Africa want action; they want solutions.”
South Africans are forced to endure a minimum 10-hour power outage in a day, a crisis that has left supermarkets and restaurants scrambling to sell meats at steep discounts before they spoil and become inedible.
The cause has been attributed to Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility, struggling to maintain outdated coal-fired power plants that can barely keep up with powering the entire nation.
Businesses that can no longer cope with the high cost of operations are shutting down, and those who have not are laying off workers in a nation where unemployment is already prevalent.
Mr Ramaphosa said he would appoint a minister of electricity to oversee projects that will deescalate the electricity crisis.
“The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply,” the South African president added.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
NationWide
National Assembly to organise summit on aviation sector
He said that the summit would address challenges in the aviation sector to proffer solutions to them.
NationWide
CDS Musa calls for stronger military, NIA collaboration to tackle insecurity
The CDS commended the NIA boss for his exemplary leadership and commitment to national service.
NationWide
Don’t give up on Nigeria, Fayemi begs citizens
“The task of nation-building is not a one-off or static exercise, but is rather a dynamic and permanent work in progress.”
States
Workers are hungry; reinstate wage award: Anambra TUC tells Gov. Soludo
Mr Ogbonna said that both the state and the federal governments need to hasten the process of workers’ salary adjustment.
Heading 4
Lagos police identify officer who shot man dead at fuel station
“Investigation is still ongoing and further findings will be made available, ” he said.
Anti-Corruption
Kano govt. nabs three senior officials for collecting bribes to secure citizenship for illegal migrants
“We will keep interrogating them and at the end, if found wanting, they will be prosecuted.”