South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially declared the country’s energy crisis a national state of disaster, enabling the government to implement measures to tackle the crisis and bring the necessary generating capacity online.
In conjunction with this declaration, the President also announced the establishment of a Ministry of Electricity under the Presidency, which is mandated to focus on energy in the crisis.
The national state of disaster was declared during the State of the Nation address on Thursday with immediate effect, as “extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures,” according to the President.