OPINION| Ramaphosa’s welcome electricity reforms short on liberalisation

KevinJuly 28, 2022

1 minute read

opinion|-ramaphosa’s-welcome-electricity-reforms-short-on-liberalisation

Generation: South Africans have had to work through rolling blackouts, particularly this year. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

COMMENT

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s electricity liberalisation announcement is welcome but does not go far enough.

South Africa needs real freedom of enterprise in the choice of sources of energy and in competition for consumer favour, before rolling blackouts can be defeated.

The country’s economy has not grown in any meaningful sense in recent years, especially after the Covid-19 lockdowns imposed since March 2020. Demand for electricity has not skyrocketed because of more economic activity but the frequency rolling blackouts have increased.