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Business Unity South Africa says while it welcomes government's focus on the energy crisis during the State of the Nation address, it is not entirely convinced that the declaration of a State of Disaster will address the crisis.
BUSA CEO Cas Coovadia, described it as "a low point in the life of society" when mismanagement and the lack of governance has created the circumstances in which a State of Disaster has to be declared.
He also took issue with the announcement of a Minister for Electricity, who will be located in the Office of the President, saying its a bad idea that will add to the confusion and turf wars rather than solve the problem.
"It is yet another example of failure to take bold decisions and opting instead for the soft but expensive option of adding another ministry rather than holding those ministers responsible for the crisis accountable," Coovada says.
Coovada says business is concerned about the potential of a repeat of the corruption seen under the Covid-19 State of Disaster.
He says he welcomes the announcement on rooftop solar panels and that provision will be made in the budget speech to incentivise this.
Reflecting on SONA 2022, Coovadia says they have noted positive changes since then.
He says this included the launch of spectrum, lifting the ceiling on embedded energy, going to market on a further tranche of renewable energy and the announcement of a comprehensive energy plan by the President.
He says all the positive developments should have been announced four years ago and implemented then, something business has consistently been calling for.
He says if the embedded energy ceiling had been lifted four years ago, when business called for it, the energy environment would be looking very different today.
"Despite these delays, business responded positively and urgently and 3.6GW of energy will be on the grid in the next two years from investments in embedded energy," he added.
