Thread by @SAgovnews

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa will this afternoon respond to oral questions from MPs before the National Assembly.

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says today marks the start of 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children of our country. This is a time when all Africans come together to reaffirm the commitment to the end of violence that’s perpetrated by men

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says during the next 16 days, the nation needs to reflect on the progress that has been made in tackling this pandemic in our society. In particular, we need to look at the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on GBV and Demi use

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says it is important we should work together as one nation to ensure that this year’s 16 days of activism is meaningful that it moves beyond mere words and that it results in real change in the lives of the women of SA

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says the recent loadshedding that has disrupted daily lives for millions of South Africans and which has also caused great damage to the economy is in many ways a start reminder of the severe intractable challenges the grid faces

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says loadshedding is always the last resort where demand for electricity is greater than what can be produced by the system. It is necessary to prevent the collapse of the power grid and the complete blackout.

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says at its core, loadshedding is inevitable and it has inevitable consequences of the age of many of Eskom’s power plants and many will know that many of them are between 20, 30, 40 and 60 years

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says some of the reasons have been due to the age of the fleet, some the debt and some lack of capacity and also some of the reason would be as a result of state capture.

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says Eskom has to undertake the fundamental maintenance that is necessary to improve the reliability of our electricity supply. As it continues with maintenance, loadshedding will remain a possibility for some time to come

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says government is not simply waiting for the inevitable, “we are working hard in a number of ways to fix this problem”.

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says as Eskom has been implemented a generation recovery plan to improve the availability generating capacity and minimise the risk of loadshedding, measures are being taken to change the trajectory of electricity generation

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says as part of Eskom’s roadmap, Eskom is currently being restructured into 3 subsidiaries- transmission, generation and distribution. The legal separation of the transmission entity is planned for 31 December 2021

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says the legal separation of generation and distribution is scheduled for next year. The electricity regulation Act and the electricity pricing policy is being amended to reflect the new structure of the electricity industry

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says the restructuring of Eskom will in many ways transform the sector and will enable greater competition and investment in new generation capacity

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says some municipalities are already getting ready to take advantage of what flows from this transformation process and have declared the clear intention to generate power for their residents

#RamaphosaQandA President @CyrilRamaphosa says this will remove the risk of relying on one entity that has sole monopoly on power generation in our country. This reform will have a positive impact economic growth and will improve the reliability, efficiency of electricity supply.