Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has proposed that President Cyril Ramaphosa immediately dissolve the National Energy Crisis Committee and appoint in its place an outside industry expert to oversee the implementation of the Energy Response Plan.

For a second time Ramaphosa has cut an overseas trip short to return to South Africa and attend to the energy crisis as the country saw Stage 6 power cuts on Sunday.

The DA said there was no sense of urgency from Ramaphosa, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan while Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and COO Jan Oberholzer reflect the true severity of the situation by using words such as “catastrophe”.

“At the end of July, President Ramaphosa launched his latest plan to deal with load-shedding to much fanfare and nods of approval from the media and energy role-players. But two months later, almost every aspect of this plan has stalled,“ said Steenhuisen.

He said it was a great concern that there was no lack of urgency, with no measurable targets or clear timelines attached to any of the project deliverables.

The DA leader stressed that the Energy Crisis Committee must not be replaced by “another set of African National Congress (ANC) politicians”.

“We cannot repeat the same actions and hope for a different outcome,” he said.

The DA leader proposed that outside industry experts should be both apolitical and leading experts in the energy field.

Steenhuisen went on to say that the expert must be sufficiently empowered to do whatever it took to stabilise the current generation fleet and bring additional generation on board, without their hands tied by red tape that had held back recovery until now.

In addition, the party said their proposal required the executive authority to assemble a team of experts, to oversee the hiring of engineers and managers without having to answer to “racial bean counters in any ANC ministry”, and the power to make decisions on the procurement of additional electricity from independent producers, without stifling regulations imposed by Mantashe and Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel.

In addition to appointing this outside expert the DA proposed a ring-fenced State of Disaster around Eskom and the country’s electricity supply.

The party said this would allow for the circumvention of the current legislation that prevented the acquisition of additional power from independent power producers.

The party also wanted Ramaphosa to fire Mantashe for what it called "multiple failures".

“He is responsible for the dysfunctional regulatory framework that has prevented our energy sector’s recovery. He has repeatedly blocked renewable energy projects. He has allowed the Risk Mitigation [Independent] Power Producer Procurement Programme to stall in the middle of the crisis, and he cannot see beyond coal. He must go, and he must go now,” the party said.