As President Cyril Ramaphosa gears up to present his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday evening, political parties are urging him to prioritise the country’s energy crisis.

On Tuesday, South Africa recorded its hundredth consecutive day of loadshedding, with the lights off for parts of every day since October 31, 2022. According to the South African Reserve Bank, each day of loadshedding impacts the economy to the tune of around R1-billion in losses.

GOOD secretary-general and MP Brett Herron wants Ramaphosa to share the State’s urgent and implementable plan to stop loadshedding and give consumers an immediate break by assisting them to acquire solar power.

He said a State of Disaster, which had been touted, was not a plan to stop loadshedding.

“For the past month or two, members of the executive have provided different timeframes and methodologies by which they say South Africa will overcome loadshedding. What’s the truth? How are we going to do it, and when? Why should long-suffering electricity consumers believe the plan this time, when previous promises have just delivered more loadshedding?” Herron added.

Herron said the President must also use his power to make a just energy transition real for ordinary electricity consumers by providing State backing for the affordable implementation of solar energy.

Meanwhile, the measures the South African Communist Party (SACP) has suggested included a massive rollout of household solar systems, including solar geysers, and where possible gas geysers, with a focus on workers and the poor.

The SACP explained that this could be anchored in localisation to manufacture and assemble the components into built-up units, which could create employment and reduce the crisis-high level of unemployment.

The party said measures introduced during the last SoNA had not resolved the energy crisis, and that loadshedding had not only continued but had worsened.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) holds very low expectations for this year’s SoNA.

“We anticipate much the same as was promised year upon year, since he took office in 2018. In truth, there is nothing that the President can say that will make any sense or carry any substance in the absence of a clear-cut energy strategy, with firm timelines and deliverables for consumers, business and investors,” said IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.

NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER

The SACP believes that under the current energy situation, declaring the energy crisis a National State of Disaster has become necessary.

It said the importance of wider consultation through government structures could not be overemphasised, while ensuring decisiveness through progressive policies and interventions to achieve the desired outcomes under the National State of Disaster, if declared. 

Politically, within the Tripartite Alliance there must be consistent, extensive consultation on the direction that should inform the National State of Disaster and the content of policies and measures to be implemented, it added.

The SACP wants government to combat corruption and strengthen accountability and wants Parliament to play its oversight role strictly.

PRIORITISING STABILISING MUNICIPALITIES

GOOD also wants Ramaphosa to prioritise stabilising municipalities, and said without measures to stabilise coalition governments, the instability presently witnessed in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Durban and many other municipalities would be replicated across the nation.

“What we presently have is a recipe for instability, for coalitions to be formed not on principle but on political opportunity, and for service delivery to become an afterthought. The President has the power to lead us out of this dead-end,” said Herron.