CNN
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster in response to the country’s drawn-out energy crisis, calling it “an existential threat” to Africa’s most developed economy.
Setting out the government’s key objectives for the year in a state of the nation address Thursday, Ramaphosa said the crisis is “an existential threat to the economy and the social fabric of our country” and that “our most immediate priority is to restore energy security.”
South Africans have endured power cuts for years, but 2022 saw more than twice as many blackouts as any other year, as aging coal-fired power plants broke down and state-owned power utility Eskom struggled to find the money to buy diesel for emergency generators.
Blackouts in South Africa — or load-shedding as they’re known locally — have been lasting for as long…
