By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramphosa says the government is working around the clock to ensure that schools and hospitals, among others, are less adversely affected by power outages.
Ramaphosa was responding to the latest high court ruling on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on Saturday.
The Pretoria High Court has ordered Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to exempt essential services from power cuts.
He has until the end of January 2024, to do so.
The court also ruled that load shedding was unconstitutional and a violation of basic human rights.
Ramaphosa says they are working on lessening the burden.
“We want our schools and hospitals to have the requisite amount of energy, and there will be moments when we have load shedding that affects certain portions of society negatively.
Ramaphosa said: “The good thing is that we are implementing it (energy action plan) together with various stakeholders including labour, government and business. At a national energy crisis committee level, we have been able to get all government departments to work together, so the plan is working.”
He said the government needs to deal with the “weaknesses that are inherent in Eskom.”
“We are making progress and as we move on to get more qualified people including appointing an Eskom CEO, we will be able to gain more traction and move forward in a much stronger way. I am confident about that.”
The government will also continue to take action to restructure Eskom so that it’s repositioned into three entities so that it operates more effectively, he said. “That I am certain about.”
Ramaphosa has been addressing world leaders at the G77 and China Leaders’ summit at Cop28 in Dubai.
COP28 presents an opportunity to fast-track the energy transition by building the energy system of the future, while rapidly decarbonising the current energy system to keep 1.5°C target within reach.
Ramaphosa said during the climate change conference South Africa presented its Just Energy Implementation Plan to UN secretary-general António Guterres and the partners who have committed up to $8.5bn in grants, concessionary loans and loans.
“We are calling for more countries to participate as our just energy plan requires much more money so that we can transit in a much more effective and just way, particularly when it comes to those communities that are going to be affected when we transit from fossil fuel sources of energy to renewables.”
He hailed the meeting as a success and downplayed the absence of key ministers such as Ramokgopa and energy minister Gwede Mantashe from the meeting, saying preparatory work was done in the cabinet and various clusters.
The President asserted the role of multilateralism and solidarity as central to global climate action and cautioned against unilateral, coercive, and trade-distorting approaches, such as carbon adjustment measures that are going to be severely detrimental to developing economies.
The conference underway, commenced on 30 November and will end on 12 December 2023, brings together world leaders to discuss progress and ambition across all pillars of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as adopted in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
The conference seeks to provide momentum and guidance for the remainder of the COP and is presided over by COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates.