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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of national disaster in an attempt to stem the deep electricity crisis. For months, 60 million South Africans have been forced to cook, wash their clothes and charge their phones at certain times of the day only
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of national disaster in an attempt to stem the deep electricity crisis. For months, 60 million South Africans have been forced to cook, wash their clothes and charge their phones at certain times of the day only. The blackouts, sometimes lasting for 12 hours or so, had put ordinary life topsy turvy.
This announcement of the state of disaster was made by Ramaphosa, at Cape Town City Hall in the south, where he held his annual state of the nation address. The President said that extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures. He conceded that the crisis has gradually evolved to affect all levels of society.
The state of disaster mainly allows the release of exceptional funds, which could also appease people’s growing anger against power cuts. Trade unions had protested against the growing power deficit called by the opposition and trade unions. Unemployment has reached 32.9%, growth forecasts for this year are almost zero (0.3%) and the increase in the cost of living seems to be driven by persistent inflation.
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It is also affecting small business owners struggling to survive and being forced to make hard choices. The outages which have lasted for more than 200 days since last year have caused misery for the 60 million South Africans struggling with high unemployment, poverty, and the rising cost of living.
