Blackouts will be overcome – Cyril

President Cyril Ramaphosa put on an optimistic face in the midst of the indefinite rolling blackouts across the country‚ saying on Thursday that the energy crisis will be overcome.

This is as he conceded that the daily load-shedding gripping SA was having a huge impact on the economy.

“We are currently facing a severe energy crisis that is having a profound impact on the lives of our people and also our economy‚” the president told hundreds of people gathered for the commemoration of Human Rights Day in Sharpeville.

He said he was working very hard to bring the energy crisis to an end.

“We are already putting in place a number of measures‚ making sure that the energy loss that we had from the cyclone in Mozambique will be restored‚” he said.

Power utility Eskom this week blamed tropical cyclone Idai, which caused devastation in Mozambique, for stage four load-shedding that left citizens without electricity for up to four hours at a time. “We are making sure that we address some of the maintenance challenges we have in our power stations,” Ramaphosa said.

While reportedly expressing shock earlier in the week at the prospect of power cuts for the next six months‚ the president was a lot more hopeful on Thursday. “Restoring a reliable supply of energy and to ensure we have a sustainable model for affordable energy for the future is now one of our most urgent priorities‚” he said.

Ramaphosa further said: “We will overcome this electricity crisis that is engulfing our country at this moment.”

He said SA would defeat load-shedding just as it had defeated apartheid.

“The energy crisis we are going through now will pass and I call on all South Africans: let us join hands‚ work together and make sure we bring the energy crisis to an end.”

Speaking in Howick outside Pietermaritzburg, co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Zweli Mkhize urged communities to exercise their rights by standing up against greedy and selfish government officials.

Addressing a multifaith prayer service in Mpophomeni township, Mkhize said this would promote good governance.

“This will ensure that a person who is presiding over a government institution would know that they are presiding over the heritage of the people who are suffering so that they don’t end up being greedy and selfish.

“That’s why we are fighting corruption and state capture so that there shouldn’t be people who‚ when they have the opportunity‚ they decide that they should take everything for themselves when communities are expecting something‚” he said.

Mkhize said the government was doing everything to fight corruption because mistakes did happen.

“But if we as communities are taking a back seat‚ there are many things that cannot be resolved‚” he said.

He said that while the country was facing many challenges such as a lack of jobs‚ Ramaphosa was doing his best to address them.- TimesLIVE