Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation for the first time in four months – Photo: Flickr / GCIS
Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation for the first time in four months – Photo: Flickr / GCIS
For the first time since March 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to organise a ‘family meeting’ – but this will have nothing to do with COVID, as the grave concerns of South Africans switch to another pressing matter.
From what we’ve gathered so far, we know Cyril Ramaphosa wants to address the nation via a televised speech – similar to the ones he did during lockdown. The president will then be expected to declare a ‘national energy emergency’.
This will allow sweeping interventions to take place, in terms of how Eskom operates and what the government can do to ease the crippling burden of load shedding. Ramaphosa is likely to SLASH legal red tape, in order to bring badly-needed reforms online.
The ANC leader will then, according to reports, share a ‘set of actions’ designed to solve our electricity problem once and for all. Further details remain sketchy, but the DA are now ‘cautiously optimistic’ that the president will enact something they called for two months ago…
“The DA cautiously welcomes reports that Ramaphosa is about to declare an energy emergency. At the bare minimum, we expect a plan with key deliverables and set timelines that will have a clear roadmap of when new generation capacity will be brought online.”
“While the President’s anticipated announcement has taken longer than necessary, we are encouraged that – exactly 63 days since we asked Cabinet to promulgate an Electricity Emergency Response Plan to respond to the electricity crisis – action is now being taken.”
DA statement
It’s hard to know exactly what Ramaphosa will seek to change, but his alleged commitment towards removing legal obstacles certainly ticks the DA’s boxes. The opposition party have set out their wish-list for the family meeting, and they’re hoping that Cyril takes the following actions: