The president announced the State of Disaster during the State of the Nation Address at Cape Town City Hall on Thursday evening, reports eNCA.

He had barely completed his address when the Democratic Alliance announced it was going to court, according to a statement published on politicsweb.co.za.

"A National State of Disaster under the guise of dealing with the load-shedding crisis will similarly empower the ANC to abuse procurement processes and issue nonsensical regulations that have nothing to do with the electricity crisis," said the DA leader, John Steenhuisen.

"The DA will not sit back and allow the ANC to abuse the electricity disaster it created to loot and further abuse the people of South Africa."

Ramaphosa says in his announcement that the electricity crisis has progressively evolved to affect every part of society.

"We must act to lessen the impact of the crisis on farmers, small businesses, our water infrastructure, and our transport network."

He stressed that the debilitating energy shortage in which the country finds itself requires the government to move with increased urgency, according to an article published on the official government news website, www.sanews.gov.za/.

"Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. The energy crisis is an existential threat to our economy and social fabric. We must spare no effort, and we must allow no delay, in implementing these measures," he said.

Steenhuisen, however, says, "South Africa has been down this road before. During Covid-19 we saw the fatal flaws in the National State of Disaster legislation, which allows the ANC unfettered power to loot without any parliamentary oversight. The DA is already in court to declare the Disaster Management Act unconstitutional, and we will now do the same to prevent the ANC looting frenzy that will follow Ramaphosa’s dangerous and desperate announcement like night follows day."

President Ramaphosa assured the public that expenditure related to the State of Disaster will be closely monitored by the Auditor General’s office to guard against "abuse of any funds needed" to address the energy crisis.

How it will work

"The state of disaster will enable us to provide the practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply.

"Where technically possible, it will also enable us to exempt critical infrastructure, such as hospitals and water treatment plants, from load shedding. It will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements while maintaining rigorous environmental protection as well as procurement principles and technical standards," he said.

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