DA wants Ramaphosa to declare state of disaster in energy sector
Political parties represented in Parliament met with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday to discuss the country’s energy crisis.
The DA, which was also part of the meeting, said it put 16 interventions on the table which it believes will go a long way to solving the country's ongoing electricity crisis.
The country's sole electricity producer Eskom has been battling to keep lights on in recent months due to a lack of generation capacity.
DA leader John Steenhuisen says the time has now come for government to declare a national state of disaster in the energy sector.
"Issue a blanket Section 34 determination so that all municipalities in good financial standing can procure, generate and store their own electricity. Incentivise and ease the regulations on small-scale embedded generation such as rooftop solar.”
Steenhuisen says some of the medium-term interventions the DA wants government to look into including the establishment of an emergency electricity commission, headed up by a power utility specialist, to deal with the crisis, and investing in battery storage technology.
"Deal with sabotage through integrated security and intelligence measures, and by vigorously prosecuting the treasonous saboteurs. Employ engineers and cut the dead wood at Eskom and the money saved by letting deployed cadres go will pay for the skills needed to fix the utility.
"Ramp up maintenance on Eskom’s generation fleet and review all Eskom coal contracts to eradicate corruption."
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