Ramaphosa cancels Davos trip due to ongoing energy crisis

President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his working visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, due to the ongoing energy crisis.
His spokesperson Vincent Magwenya tweeted the president was convening a meeting with leaders of political parties represented in parliament, the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECCOM) and the Eskom board.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has already engaged with the leadership of Eskom and National Energy Crisis Committee(NECCOM) and those meetings will continue. More briefing sessions to key stakeholders will take place during this coming week,” said Magwenya.

ALSO READ: Godongwana paints gloomy GDP outlook ahead of WEF meeting

Gloomy outlook for SA

Just days before he had to present a strong investment case to global leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana painted a bleak picture of South Africa’s growth prospects, saying the economy may have grown by a lower-than-forecast 1.6% in 2022.

According to a Moneyweb report, National Treasury, in October, forecasted that GDP growth would come in at 1.9%, which had already been revised downward from 2.1% earlier last year.

Godongwana’s comments came despite South Africa’s GDP having increased by 1.6% in the third quarter of 2022.

“The forecast is not impressive as well,” Godongwana said.

With 11 power stations not fully operational and rolling blackouts under stage 6, convincing international investors to inject money into South Africa was going to be a mammoth task.

ALSO READ: City Power infrastructure also old, battling with load shedding

 This is also against the backdrop of a globally difficult economy.  

Aside from the energy woes, the delegation would have also had to convince international investors that aspects such as crime, schools and public sector corruption are on the mend.

Old video comes back to haunt the president

Ramaphosa’s cancelled visit come amid the recirculation of an old video, in which the president is patting his government on the back for ‘fixing the country’s energy crisis.’

In the video, which aged as badly as a rotting carcass under the scorching African sun, the President is seen telling media that ‘load shedding is a thing of the past.’

Under stage 6, and with local municipalities battling to keep the power rolling between load shedding stages, the video has infuriated netizens.

Watch: Old video of Ramaphosa declaring load shedding ‘is a thing of the past’

Additional reporting by Moneyweb and Devina Haripersad

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