SA’s electricity crisis | OUTA not buying government explanation

JOHANNESBURG - The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse isn't buying government's reasoning for terminating the state of disaster around the ongoing energy crisis.

Government says the State of Disaster allowed them to enhance interventions and install wide-ranging regulations to help lessen the impact of rolling blackouts.

READ: OUTA: Govt withdraws State of Disaster on electricity

But OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage says most of these were already in place before the State of Disaster and government only backed down to avoid facing the courts.

"They put out those regulations and none of them made sense and quite frankly when we looked at this decision and what they had been saying to the public just three days prior to coming out with the State of Disaster, is that they didn't need a state of disaster," said Duvenage.

READ: SA's electricity crisis | Govt scraps State of Disaster with immediate effect

"They had everything in place so we don't believe that that rationale or reasoning provided makes any sense. They know now, they've stated, that they have everything at their disposal to introduce emergency procurement and deal with the electricity crisis that we have without having to go into a State of Disaster.

"This is a very different situation to a State of Disaster under a pandemic that is rapidly spreading. This is a self-made disaster over decades and there's no emergency in this situation," he said.

"All that is required is good governance, good leadership, practical leadership and get your house in order. That was the real issue here and I think that they know that they were going to be on a hiding to nothing in the court case."