Sona 2023: Solidarity threatens legal action if Ramaphosa institutes energy state of disaster

Solidarity has warned that it would pursue legal action if President Cyril Ramaphosa instituted a state of disaster due to the ongoing energy crisis in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday evening.

The union said in statement there is not a single element of the energy crisis that has its origins in the limitation of state powers, and it is precisely the government’s jealous clinging to its monopoly in this sector that is the root cause of the crisis.

‘Abuse of power by government’

“The harsh reality is that existing legislation already provides for the emergency procurement of electricity. Minister Mantashe has already used the existing legislation in July 2020 to announce an emergency power procurement programme for emergency purchases,” said Connie Mulder, Head of the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI).

“By a simple regulation the minister can fully stipulate how much power can be procured over which period. If the president is unhappy with the implementation of these instruments, then the appropriate route to be followed would rather be a letter of resignation from Minister Mantashe; not a declaration of a state of disaster.”

Solidarity believes that under a state of disaster South Africans will be exposed to increased abuse of power by the government.

READ MORE: ‘Declaring Eskom crisis a national state of disaster will reduce load shedding’ – DA

Abnormal powers for abnormal circumstances

“A state of disaster grants abnormal powers for abnormal circumstances to the government. A government dare not have such powers for a day longer than is necessary. It should be remembered that those powers the government now wants to procure for itself are the very same powers used during a previous state of disaster to decide which shoes could be worn and they were the powers invoked to rule that hot food could not be sold.

“The clear implication of such a move is that the ruling party sees all forms of the limitation of power as unfair obstacles. By this logic, the country’s problems can in fact be attributed to all the political, legislative and democratic institutions that, in normal circumstances, serve as checks against the abuse of power,” said Mulder.

‘Poor governance’

Solidarity also emphasised that a state of disaster is meant for a disaster, not for poor governance and that disaster legislation can accomplish much but it cannot regulate getting rid of incompetence.

“The answer lies in less power for the government and more freedom for the private sector.”

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Compiled by Siphumelele Khumalo