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The DA-run Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town are going beyond their mandate to mitigate the disastrous effects of the ANC-sponsored electricity crisis.

The DA will not stand by and let our residents carry the burden. That is what it means to be in government, to put the needs of the residents you serve first.

The Western Cape Government has made huge strides in ensuring the Western Cape becomes ever more energy resilient, with reliance on Eskom being a liability they are no longer willing to carry.

Ongoing efforts from the Western Cape Government include:

R88.8 million in emergency funding, from the provincial reserves, has been approved to support local municipalities in the province with the procurement of backup generators for the treatment and supply of water services.

The Premier has written to the President requesting greater cooperation and transparency between National and Provincial Governments in addressing the energy crisis, and has also requested a meeting with the President on this matter.

The Municipal Energy Resilience Initiative is placing Western Cape municipalities in a position to procure and produce their own electricity.

The City of Cape Town is making its own efforts to become the first metro that is not held hostage by Eskom:

The City has become the first metro to successfully negotiate with National Treasury to allow it to pay cash for electricity privately generated and fed back into the grid.

The Steenbras Hydroelectric Power Station, owned by the City, has shielded City customers from up to 2 stages of loadshedding at a time.

The City has opened up tenders to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), with the goal of adding 300MW of renewable capacity, that will be completely independent from Eskom.

The innovative Power Heroes programme will incentivise private businesses and users to save electricity during times where the grid is under pressure.

It is clear to see that where the DA governs, things are done differently. We are using all of the resources available to us to address this crisis, despite it being completely engineered by years of corrupt and inept ANC governance.

I am proud to see that DA governments are going above and beyond, on a comparatively shoestring budget, to do what the ANC has proven they are patently unable to achieve.

Issued by Cayla Murray, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism