My Fellow South Africans,

Tonight, I want to address you about the energy crisis that is confronting our nation.

During the past three weeks, severe load shedding has disrupted all of our lives and caused immense damage to our economy. The daily power cuts we have been experiencing have inconvenienced millions of households and have presented huge challenges for businesses.

After more than a decade without a reliable electricity supply, South Africans are justifiably frustrated and angry.

They are fed up.

We have therefore developed a set of actions to respond to the crisis. The crisis that we are facing requires that we should take bold, courageous and decisive action to close the electricity gap.

This is a call for all South Africans to be part of the solution; to contribute in whatever way they can to ending energy scarcity in South Africa.
As government we are announcing a number of interventions to overcome the immediate crisis.

In the past 10 days, I have held extensive discussions with the Eskom executive management, power station managers and former Eskom personnel.

I have also met with labour federations, Business Unity South Africa, the Black Business Council, community representatives and several experts in the energy sector.

This morning, I also met political party leaders,

I am grateful for the valuable proposals made by all those we have met.

 

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