As President Cyril Ramaphosa mulls his response to the energy crisis gripping the country, Business Unity SA (Busa) on Tuesday called for a more focused partnership between the government and private sector.
The business community is close to being brought to its knees by the energy crisis that has seen power utility Eskom ramp up its blackout regime as high as stage 6. Small businesses have been hit the hardest with a number closing shop because of the power crisis.
Economists have sketched a bleak picture of the economic impact of load-shedding, saying that stage 6 shutdowns cost the country R4bn a day.
Ramaphosa is said to be working on a proposal to deal with the crisis and is expected to address the nation soon on it.
On Tuesday afternoon he met organised business leaders on the electricity supply crisis in a virtual meeting.
Bonang Mohale, president of Busa, which represents 55 business organisations, said the talks were “productive, extremely open, honest and transparent”.
It was a consultative platform, the details of which will be released to the public by the presidency once consolidated with input from the interaction.
It is understood that the presidency presented business with plans to address the immediate and longer-term energy crisis. The meeting began after 3pm on Tuesday and ended shortly before 7pm. Details of the plans and timeframes will only be disclosed when the plan is made public.
Commenting on the talks, Mohale said: “As business we are absolutely convinced we are in this together. This is an all-in crisis ... The economy is currently being hamstrung and we know that without energy there is zero economic activity.”
He said Busa is happy with the plan presented to it, but he cautioned that “the trick will always be execution”.
Congruence
Busa CEO Cas Coovadia said: “The presidency presented a plan to address the immediate and longer-term energy stabilisation and consolidation issues. There is reasonable congruence between business priorities and the plan.”
Coovadia said business was keen on a more focused partnership between the government and business to bring best resources and capacity in the country to bear in order to make urgent progress.
The crisis prompted Ramaposa to address public concerns in his weekly newsletter of July 11, in which he acknowledged that people “had a right to feel angry and frustrated”.
It followed an outcry from business across the country pleading for his intervention. He said the government has been working with the relevant ministers and senior officials on a range of additional measures to accelerate all efforts to increase the electricity supply.
“We will soon be completing the detailed work and consultations needed to finalise these further measures.
“We will then, in the coming days, be able to announce a comprehensive set of actions to achieve much faster progress in tackling load-shedding,” Ramaphosa said.
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