Ramaphosa Dusts Off Covid-Era Playbook as Energy Crisis Mounts

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration of a state of disaster over the nation’s energy crisis resorts to a measure last invoked to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and resulted in a massive squandering of public funds.

The decree will help the government bypass bureaucratic hurdles so it can accelerate new projects and equipment repairs, Ramaphosa said in his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday. It will also enable the government to exempt hospitals and water-treatment plants from outages, and enable it to assist food producers and retailers affected by the blackouts, he said.