By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has officially terminated the national state of disaster it implemented to deal with South Africa’s energy crisis.
Cogta minister Thembi Nkadimeng said in a gazette published just before noon on Wednesday, the state of disaster was terminated.
“All regulations and directions made in terms of section 27(2) of the [National Disaster] Act pursuant to the declaration of the national state of disaster to deal with the impact or the severe electricity supply constraint is hereby repealed with immediate effect.”
Nkadimeng has since expressed her sincere appreciation for the constructive and collaborative way in which stakeholders in civil society have worked with government in a short time to achieve progress in keeping the lights on and enabling the economy and public services to function more productively.
The department gazetted the notice on Wednesday (5 April), which includes the termination from the department, as well as the revocation of the classification of the severe electricity supply constraint as a national disaster by the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre.
The state of disaster was declared on 9 February 2023 on the basis that the prevailing Eskom energy crisis in the country has done untold damage to the country and is an existential threat to businesses and the economy.
Announcing the state of disaster, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that regulation under the Disaster Management Act would allow for the government to coordinate to address the crisis through a single focus point.
“The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply,” Ramaphosa said.
The regulation changes published by Cogta weeks later gave the department and ministers far-reaching powers to deal with the crisis, including exempting critical infrastructure from load shedding, allowing new generation capacity to speed past environmental laws, and unlocking finances through ’emergency procurement’.
However, in the month that followed, very little was actually done using these regulations.
A number of gazettes were issued by departments like Trade and Industry and Communications to open investigations into which entities could be exempt from load shedding – as well as exempting some businesses from competition clauses – but little else emerged.
Meanwhile, the fact that a state of disaster was declared at all faced immediate backlash, with the government facing mounting legal challenges to the move.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and trade union Solidarity have both said earlier on Wednesday they were informed by the state attorney that government will be withdrawing the national state of disaster to address the energy crisis.
OUTA launched a legal challenge shortly after the state of disaster was declared in February to have it reviewed as the organisation believed it was “irrational, arbitrary and unlawful”. Solidarity similarly launched a legal application to challenge the declaration.
Government had not submitted answering affidavits in the matter. OUTA had planned to meet with the judge on 12 April to set a date for a hearing.
In response to court action brought against the state for the declaration, the State Attorney invited the litigants to withdraw their cases, given that this is the direction being taken.