Premier welcomes termination of State of Disaster but demands action – now

Media release: Premier Winde welcomes termination of State of Disaster but demands action – now

Premier Alan Winde has welcomed the termination of the State of Disaster (SoD) to deal with the energy crisis. He said, “Plans and talk of how to tackle this calamity are not ending damaging rolling blackouts. We as the Western Cape Government (WCG) want action. We have demonstrated this through our own interventions.”

The Premier has always backed interventions that would expedite all available measures to improve power generation and stabilise the grid. “The disaster declaration needed to create an enabling environment, with the requisite regulations in place, to get energy into the system quickly,” he pointed out.

“When I met with Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa last month I called on him to take decisive action. We do not need any more plans; we need more megawatts,” he added.

The Premier stressed the need for urgency. “Not only are our citizens buckling under blackouts, which are worsening, but they also have to contend with the throttling cost of living crisis. The WCG has been working flat out to meaningfully address this crisis by putting budgets in almost all of our departments over the next 3 financial years to ensure services and our citizens are protected from loadshedding as far as possible by getting more megawatts (MWs) into the power system,” said Premier Winde.

He emphasised, “What we want is clear, unambiguous communication from President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government on how they are going to add more MWs along with commitment and accountability to deliver this.”

Premier Winde said, “This catastrophe is the most urgent priority for us, and with blackouts here to stay for a good while longer, talking about alleviating loadshedding must translate into tangible action - now.