Lights Out In South Africa

The South African energy crisis began in late 2007 and Eksom, the state-owned power company, began carrying out multiple periods and phases of load shedding to avoid a total collapse of the grid. However, in 2022, South Africa saw more blackouts than any other year—a record 205 days without electricity.

Written by Hillary Essien

Feb 19, 2023

Graphics by Onyinye Dike

On 14 February, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he would appoint a minister of electricity as the country’s blackouts continue worsening and threatening the economy. On 09 February, he declared a national state of disaster during the annual State of the Nation Address to parliament, calling it ‘an existential threat’.

According to Ramaphosa, South Africa is:

…in the grip of a profound energy crisis. The crisis has progressively evolved to affect every part of society. We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, on small businesses, on our water infrastructure and our transport network.

When a national state of disaster is declared in South Africa, the Disaster Management Act 2002 assigns responsibilities to the national disaster management centre. This allows the government to carry out actions aimed at protecting lives and property as well as providing relief. The law also enables the government to allocate government resources in response to the disaster. Last year, Ramaphosa lifted a two-year-long disaster declaration, put in place at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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About the Author

Hillary Essien

was a Senior Associate Editor at The Republic.

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Lights Out In South Africa