The government has terminated, with immediate effect, the national state of disaster declared less than two months ago over the electricity crisis.
The decision was motivated by the fact that measures needed to respond to the electricity crisis had already been in place before the state of disaster was declared, said deputy minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs Parks Tau.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Tau said that since the state of disaster was declared on February 9, a new executive authority had been established to focus on electricity in particular.
Referring to the role of the recently appointed electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, he said his department had engaged with the ministry to determine whether it needed “additional powers to be able to execute [its] responsibilities.
“The reality is, on the basis of that review, we could determine we don’t need extraordinary measures [to address the electricity crisis]. We have determined that in fact we have the measures in place,” Tau said.
The government might reassess the situation to determine any need to bring back the state of disaster at a later stage, said Ramokgopa.
“If we arrive at a determination sometime in the future that there is a reason for us to reconsider this position, there is a process for us in government to ventilate and assess to make sure [we] methodically arrive at a redetermination,” he said.
Lobby group Outa (the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse) and trade union Solidarity, which challenged the state of disaster through court action, said on Wednesday they had received a letter from the Pretoria state attorney announcing that the state of disaster pertaining to the energy crisis and the relevant regulations under the act would be withdrawn.
Solidarity and Outa were requested to withdraw their court application to have the state of disaster scrapped.
“This is a huge win for civil society. We are delighted. Civil society showed that we have a voice, and our voices matter,” said Stefanie Fick, Outa’s executive director.
The state attorney wrote to Outa and Solidarity, informing them that they were instructed that the co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister, in consultation with the relevant cabinet members, had decided to terminate the state of disaster and to repeal the regulations. According to the letter from the state attorney, the state respondents, which included three ministers, the president and Eskom, did not intend filing an answering affidavit to address the merits of the application.
Tau said the department did take into consideration the pending litigation on the state of disaster when it decided to terminate it on Wednesday.
“Of course, we look at litigation — if we don’t need a state of disaster, then we don’t need to be in court [to defend it].” He said because the department had decided to withdraw the state of disaster the point of the court case was “technically moot”.
Outa said the state did not have any evidence to back up the decision to declare a state of disaster. “As part of this action, the state had to provide Outa with the records relating to the decisions. Government’s own records show that those consulted by the government did not support the declaration of a national state of disaster on the electricity supply crisis, but believed that the electricity crisis could be managed through existing national legislation,” the organisation said.
Solidarity said in a statement the letter from the state attorney was a clear indication that the government stood no chance of having success in court.
“The withdrawal of the state of disaster less than two months after it being instituted is an indication that Solidarity was right from the outset in contending that the state of disaster was mere political theatre,” Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said.
According to co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Thembisile Nkadimeng, the state of disaster has served its purpose. The government adopted “wide-ranging regulations, which set out the responsibilities of the different organs of the state to mitigate the effect of severe load-shedding, prevent the escalation of electricity supply constraints and avert a national emergency”.
She said, “a significant enabler of the improvement in the supply of electricity has been the appointment of Ramokgopa as minister of electricity”.
Eskom’s has had to resort to near constant load-shedding since January. In March, Eskom was able to suspend it for a full 24-hour period for the first time in 2023, but has since reverted to daily stage 3 and 4 power cuts that leave South Africans without power for about six hours per day as it struggles to balance power supply with demand.
Eskom acting spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said it would not be commenting on the withdrawal of the state of disaster pending engagement with the government on the matter.
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