Earlier this week, the ANC called for state-of-disaster laws to be used to end the load shedding that has been plaguing South Africans. They aim to end the crisis by the end of this year.
But what does this mean for the country and its citizens?
What is a state of disaster?
According to a document that details and outlines guidelines on classification of a state of disaster, the Disaster Management Act 2002 assigns various powers and duties to the national disaster management centre (NDMC), which has, among others, advisory and consultative functions and, under Section 22, the power to give guidance and advice to stakeholders regarding disaster management.
A national state of disaster enables the national executive to implement extra-ordinary measures but only to the extent that it is necessary for the purpose of assisting and protecting the public, providing relief to the public, protecting property and preventing or combating disruption.
What the experts say
According to energy experts, declaring a state of disaster is not advisable.
“Existing legislation and institutions, if used in good faith, provide all that is necessary to get over load shedding as fast as reasonably possible,” Hilton Trollip, an energy research consultant and fellow at UCT, told Bloomberg.
In an interview with 702, analyst Chris Yelland explained that he had presented a paper in 2022 suggesting that a state of disaster be implemented.
Yelland also proposed appropriate steps to resolve the energy crisis in South Africa.
“When I suggested a state of disaster about eight months ago in a paper I presented, I had in mind to facilitate and expedite the right decisions, and I proposed what those right decisions were,” he said.
“But, I fear, eight months later, that the state of emergency or disaster may be used to facilitate end expedite the wrong decisions and actions that were not proposed in my paper.”
However, Yelland also noted that the implementation of a national state of disaster had the potential to help resolve the energy crisis if the relevant parties did the right thing.
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