Durban - Ratepayer organisations and an environmental justice group have said there would need to be transparency around any move for a state of disaster to be declared regarding the energy crisis.
Speaking at the closing of the ANC national executive committee lekgotla on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was a call made during the meeting for the declaration of a national state of disaster as had been done to deal with Covid-19.
“Work is already under way within the government to establish whether the legal requirements for the declaration of a national state of disaster are met and what specific actions we would be empowered to undertake to urgently resolve load shedding within the framework of a national state of disaster,” said Ramaphosa.
Eskom announced power cuts would be upped to stage 5 and 6 from today, due to more generating units having breakdowns.
Desmond D’Sa of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance said he was not convinced that a state of disaster should be declared.
“There needs to be more transparency with members of the public as to what the terms of the state of the disaster will be and why it needs to be done,” he said.
D’Sa added that instead of declaring a state of disaster, the government should look at investing in renewable energy. “This will not only create jobs, but also assist in fighting climate change.”
Don Perumall, chairperson of the Tongaat Civic Association, said there needed to be clarity about what the national state of disaster would mean for citizens.
“We can’t just have the state of disaster declared, we need the government to explain things to us, if it will be similar to the state of disaster due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the end of the day this is not a good thing, this will affect investment as we are informing other countries that we have a power supply that is not functioning properly.”
Perumall added that the government needed to start looking at other alternatives to solve the energy crisis.
“We need to revisit nuclear power as a form of energy, we looked at it in the past and need to again. Other countries are using it and doing well,” he said.
Anthony Waldhausen, chairperson of the Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers and Civics, said the association was deeply concerned about what a state of disaster would entail.
He said for example, a state of disaster being declared may allow for the government to implement curfews or restrict people’s movements as was experienced during the hard lockdown.
Ish Praladh, chairperson of the eThekwini Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, said instead of declaring a state of disaster, the government should cut down on expenses and reduce the number of councillors and PR councillors and use that revenue to fix the power stations. “If we root out corruption, we will find the funds to solve the energy crisis we are facing.”
Opposition parties had mixed views, the DA saying it had long held the view that a disaster should be declared regarding Eskom. But it said any declaration of a state of disaster should be strictly ring-fenced around the power utility and the electricity sector.
The DA added that such a declaration must be subject to “complete and transparent parliamentary oversight”.
The EFF rejected the proposal, saying it would not stop the rolling blackouts the country was experiencing.
It added that during the Covid-19 state of disaster, there had been wide-scale looting of state funds under the guise of procurement of personal protective equipment.