Govt officially ends state of disaster for power crisis

Government has officially terminated the national state of disaster it implemented just under two months ago to deal with SA’s energy crisis.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Thembi Nkadimeng said in a gazette published just before noon on Wednesday that the state of disaster was terminated.

“All regulations and directions made in terms of section 27(2) of the [National Disaster] Act pursuant to the declaration of the national state of disaster to deal with the impact or the severe electricity supply constraint is hereby repealed with immediate effect.”

Nkadimeng, along with Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who was appointed after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the state of disaster in his State of the Nation Address, will brief the media at 14:00 on Wednesday.

In a statement issued ahead of the briefing, government said that the state of disaster was a “necessary response” the impact that critical levels of load shedding was having on the economy and vulnerable sectors like health and small businesses. It noted that after the state of disaster was declared, a range of regulations were put in place to support the Energy Action Plan and ensure an integrated response across government.

“The state of disaster enabled government to enhance interventions by the National Energy Crisis Committee in terms of the Energy Action Plan,” the statement read.

Ramokgopa’s appointment was also highlighted as a “significant enabler” of the improvement in electricity supply. Ramokgopa has since undertaken oversight visits at power stations and held consultations within government, including Eskom.

“As a structure that integrates areas of responsibility and resources within government, the National Energy Crisis Committee provides support to the Minister (Ramokgopa) in the identification and resolution of bottlenecks. In view of these developments, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Ms Thembisile Nkadimeng, has decided to terminate the National State of Disaster,” the statement read.

This comes after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told MPs on Wednesday that he decided to withdraw the exemption of Eskom from the Public Finance Management Act “for now” to have further consultation with the auditor-general and Eskom’s auditors.

A special government gazette issued by Godongwana on Friday exempted Eskom from reporting in its annual financial statements on wasteful and irregular expenditure that did not arise from corruption. These has been widespread criticism of the exemption, which aimed to assist Eskom achieve an unqualified audit and boost its credit ratings.

Eskom in a notice to media said it would not be commenting on the recent withdrawal of the exemption and the state of disaster pending an engagement with government.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and trade union Solidarity have both said earlier on Wednesday they were informed by the state attorney that government will be withdrawing the national state of disaster to address the energy crisis.

OUTA launched a legal challenge shortly after the state of disaster was declared in February to have it reviewed as the organisation believed it was “irrational, arbitrary and unlawful”.  Solidarity similarly launched a legal application to challenge the declaration.

Government had not submitted answering affidavits in the matter. OUTA had planned to meet with the judge on 12 April to set a date for a hearing.

OUTA and Solidarity will now withdraw their court applications.  – news24.com