Africa-Press – South-Africa. The ANC says it wants to end load shedding by the end of the year by reprioritising the national budget and declaring a national state of disaster.
On Tuesday, its secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, expanded on the party’s actions to end load shedding following a two-day lekgotla by ANC leaders in Johannesburg at the weekend.
On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the ANC would explore the legal frameworks of what a national state of disaster would entail.
Mbalula said the party was concerned about where the funding to support a national disaster declaration would be sourced.
However, he added the ANC had already considered existing budget allocations.
While the lekgotla noted the budget was under pressure, it also resolved the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee be accelerated to end load shedding by December.
“In meeting this objective, the NEC [national executive committee] agreed that all measures should be taken to protect, rebuild and save Eskom.
“The NEC lekgotla, in line with the presentation of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, noted that this would require a reprioritisation of the already pressured national budget,” the ANC said in a statement.
In particular, it added it hoped to reprioritise unspent budgets “as there are billions which are projected to be overspent”.
National Treasury generally reallocates unspent funds in any event.
Mbalula said the ANC believed a declaration of a state of disaster would also help end load shedding sooner.
This would enable the government to speed up procurement and the reallocation of resources.
He said:
Mbalula added the command centre established under the disaster would draw on people with the capacity to advise it.
“For a long time, we have been told something that is elusive. The reports have been contradictory. Our response to Covid was scientifically driven. Our response to load shedding must be scientifically driven,” he said.
The government declared a national disaster to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
A Cabinet lekgotla would be held on Thursday, and the ANC lekgotla recommendations would be discussed at the gathering, Mbalula added.
He said load shedding could be eased or ended by the end of the year if a guideline was followed.
Some of the recommendations discussed and presented at the lekgotla include:
The country has been dealing with unending days of load shedding for several months.
On Tuesday, Eskom announced it would move to Stage 5 and that Stage 6 would be implemented from Wednesday.
The power utility had indicated the country would experience stages 2 and 3 load shedding for the next two years.
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