Cape Town — President Cyril Ramaphosa praised South Africa’s efforts in keeping load shedding away, as this week marks 120 days without any power interruptions, but said victory was still far away.
Ramaphosa was speaking during the 2024/25 Presidency Budget Vote in Parliament.
He told Members of Parliament (MPs) that one of the biggest issues to economic growth has been the ongoing electricity crisis, SA Gov News reported.
“Our electricity system is still vulnerable, and we cannot yet rule out a possibility of further load shedding,” Ramaphosa said.
He said new regulatory changes have enabled substantial new investment in electricity generation and announced that the government has been working closely with independent power producers (IPPs) in steering projects through the construction phase, which will contribute significantly to reducing the severity of load shedding.
“We are going to continue working with companies, financial institutions and business organisations, both South African and international, during our ambitious investment drive over the last five years,” he said.
Continued loadshedding suspension marked by 114 days of constant power supply, 80 of which fall within the winter season – further diesel spend efficiencies realised pic.twitter.com/aeT27AWTU1
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) July 19, 2024
Ramaphosa said alleviating load shedding, improving the performance of logistics systems, reducing data costs, improving water supply, and attracting much-needed skills, will provide a significant boost to the economy in the medium term.
“In addition, these reforms support the repositioning of strategic State-owned enterprises by strengthening their balance sheets and improving their operational performance, while also enabling higher levels of private investment in infrastructure,” he said.
According to TimesLIVE, Ramaphosa drew on the experience of the electricity crisis and said the government established the national logistics crisis committee and adopted a freight logistics road map.
“As we enter a new democratic administration, as we define the priorities for the GNU, we are building on the progress made during the previous administration,” he said.
“We have made significant strides over the last five years to restore our country and our economy. We need to sustain the work that has been done and see many of the measures we have taken through to completion,” he added.
Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy, Samantha Graham-Maré, said the continued run of no load shedding has led to a saving of more than R6 billion in diesel compared to last year.
She praised the decision by Ramaphosa to appoint Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the Minister of Electricity and said that being a relatively “free agent” in the Presidency gave Ramokgopa the freedom and agility to deal with the electricity crisis but not enough to address the energy crisis.
While this week marks 120 days without load shedding in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is too soon to claim victory. https://t.co/e8enkSIiFC#PresidencyBudget #LeaveNoOneBehind
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) July 23, 2024
For that reason, the DA has welcomed moving electricity out of the Presidency and the creation of the Department of Energy and Electricity with Ramokgopa at the helm.
Graham-Maré said while they await the uncoupling of energy from mineral resources, their focus will remain on finding innovative solutions to create long-term energy resilience in the country.
She noted that though Ramaphosa had announced the new department, no budget had been allocated to it for the 2024/25 financial year.
“Initial indications were that Eskom would be moved into the new department so that the executive entrusted with the function of energy and electricity would have direct oversight of the entity. It makes absolute sense that the organisation responsible for electricity be housed within the department.”
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Picture: X/@CyrilRamaphosa
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
