On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration revoked the declaration of a national state of disaster over the country’s current energy crisis but said that some emergency measures would remain in place.
The state of disaster was declared on 9 February during President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address. This came after the National Disaster Management Centre had consequently classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster.
Also read: SONA 2023: Ramaphosa declares a national state of disaster
As reported by Reuters, the declaration gave the government additional powers to respond to the crisis, including permitting emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng officially terminated the state of disaster with immediate effect through a gazette.
While the newly appointed electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said some crisis measures would remain in place, it was announced that the government will now use existing legislation and contingency arrangements to reduce the impact of power cuts.
The revocation comes after civil action group and trade union, Solidarity, launched its legal action on 14 February, arguing the state of disaster did not meet the definition of a disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act and was therefore unlawful.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), a non-profit organisation that focuses on fighting tax abuses and government corruption, followed suit a few days later.
OUTA argued that the disaster regulations would have enabled corruption and that the crisis could be managed using existing laws.
Eskom has implemented scheduled electricity outages every day this year, leaving most households and businesses without power for up to ten hours a day.
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