South Africa’s president declares state of disaster over power cuts
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of disaster to deal with the country’s energy crisis.
His announcement gives the government additional powers to tackle the crippling electricity shortages.
In recent months, the power crisis has worsened, affecting both domestic and commercial consumers.
According to Mr. Ramaphosa, South Africa would emerge with a more efficient energy network.
The president was making an annual address to parliament, which was repeatedly disrupted by the opposition.
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There was chaos in the chamber before his speech. At one point members of the Economic Freedom Fighters stormed the podium, before being forced to leave.
Mr Ramaphosa also said access to the witness protection programme for whistle-blowers that exposed government corruption was under way.
But that brings little relief to those whose relatives were murdered for exposing maladministration.
To address the rising cost of living, Mr Ramaphosa extended the relief funding which is earned by more than eight million unemployed South Africans.
In January, the South African Funeral Practitioners Association warned that bodies in mortuaries were rapidly decomposing because of the unrelenting electricity outages, putting huge pressure on funeral parlors struggling to process corpses.
Known locally as load shedding, widespread electricity blackouts are carried out multiple times a day by state-owned energy utility Eskom to avoid the total collapse of the grid.
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Source: Africafeeds.com
