‘No more excuses’ - raft of measures introduced to end load shedding

Ramaphosa addressed the nation from the Union Buildings on Monday evening, where he announced a range of measures aimed at resolving the country’s energy crisis.

The president acknowledged that load shedding has disrupted the lives of South Africans and caused immense damage to the economy.

He says the embattled power utility will purchase additional energy from existing private generators, shopping centres and neighbouring countries that have surplus power.

“Eskom will now import power from these countries through the Southern African Power Pool arrangement. Eskom will also use interim power solutions, such as mobile generators, to supplement current generation capacity for a limited period.

“Eskom will implement a programme that encourages efficient energy use by consumers to reduce demand at peak times,” said Ramaphosa.

He said government is also working on a plan to reduce Eskom’s debt of close to R400 billion.

“The debt continues to be a huge burden on Eskom’s ability to address its many challenges. The National Treasury is working to finalise a sustainable solution to Eskom’s debt. The Minister of Finance will outline how the government will deal with this matter in an effective manner when he presents the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in October.

We will use climate funding provided through the Just Energy Transition Partnership to invest in the grid and repurpose power stations that have reached the end of their lives.”

Measures have also been put in place to confront Eskom corruption.

“The South African Police Service has set up a special law enforcement team to help Eskom in confronting crime and corruption. A number of people have been arrested in recent days and several others are already being prosecuted for corruption and fraud involving Eskom contracts.

“With improvements in the regulatory environment and mobilisation of society, Eskom will be well positioned to carry out its maintenance and investment programmes. There can be no longer any excuses,” says Ramaphosa.

The president has also established a National Energy Crisis Committee to ensure that the new measures are implemented in a coordinated manner.

“The committee is chaired by the Director-General in the Presidency and brings together all the departments and entities involved in the provision of electricity. The National Energy Crisis Committee will draw on the best available expertise from business, labour, professional engineering entities and community-based organisations.

The relevant ministers will report to me directly on a regular basis to ensure that we move quickly to implement these actions,” he said.

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