Department of Cooperative Governance

A national state of disaster on the impact of severe electricity supply constraint has been declared.

The cooperative governance department announced the declaration in Government Gazette 48009 in terms of the Disaster Management Act.

The decision to declare a state of disaster follows consideration of the “magnitude, severity and progression of the severe electricity supply constraint and the substantial impact caused by the severe electricity supply constraint and following the classification of this electricity supply constraint by the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) as a national state of disaster to prevent the possible progression to a total blackout from occurring and taking into account the possibility to augment existing measures already undertaken by the organs of state to deal with electricity supply constraint”.

In Notice 3019, the department announced the classification of the impact of the severe electricity supply constraint as a national disaster by the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, Dr Elias Sithole.

The department added that the “primary responsibility to coordinate and manage the disaster, in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements, is designated to the National Executive”.

Dr Sithole also called on organs of state to assist in ensuring that measures are put in place to enable the national executive to effectively deal with the effects of the disaster and “prevent the escalation of the severe electricity supply constraint to a total blackout”.