News24.com | SONA debate dominated by electricity crisis

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at the 2023 State Of The Nation Address.

• Both Houses of Parliament debated President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address on Tuesday in the Cape Town City Hall.
• The energy crisis dominated the debate, with opposition speakers critical of the Ramaphosa administration, while ministers accused the opposition of politicking through unconstructive criticism.
• The debate will continue on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday, before Ramaphosa responds on Thursday.

The first three hours of the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) have been dominated by South Africa's energy crisis.

Like SONA on Thursday, MPs from both Houses of Parliament gathered in the Cape Town City Hall on Tuesday to debate the address.

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina opened the debate and pre-empted that the opposition would "blow a lot of hot air" about the declaration of a state of disaster on the energy crisis.

But, she said, this would miss the point. She added that the government was responding to a call from the people of South Africa to end load shedding.

She added: " We are waiting for the Minister of Electricity to gallop on this matter."

DA leader John Steenhuisen described Ramaphosa's presidency as "five disastrous years."

"Instead of getting the state out of the way of private electricity generation, he gave sweeping powers to the same minister who abused the people of this country during Covid," he said.

Steenhuisen added:

Steenhuisen said that by expanding rather than shrinking the state's role, Ramaphosa had "all but guaranteed that load shedding and all the other terrible crises we face will only get worse".

Ministers Mondli Gungubele, Gwede Mantashe and Ebrahim Patel all took aim at the opposition parties criticising government, while listing measures that had been put in place to address the energy crisis.

"The declaration of the National State of Disaster will assist in speedy resolution of the energy supply challenges while minimising its impact and contribute immensely in the rebuilding process," said Gungubele, who also claimed Ramaphosa's SONA was "historic in many ways".

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Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, however, pointed out that since Ramaphosa had announced his energy action plan in July last year, not a single new megawatt had been added to the grid.

EFF leader Julius Malema made several unsubstantiated allegations against Police Minister Bheki Cele, who responded in kind.

Several opposition speakers were also unimpressed by Ramaphosa saying South Africans were defined by hope and resilience. 

IFP chief whip Narend Singh, speaking on behalf of the party's parliamentary leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said if you asked South Africans what defined them, they would say load shedding, unemployment, and crime.

The debate will continue on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday before Ramaphosa responds on Thursday.