As I pondered the title of this week’s piece, there were many candidates: ‘Electric dreams’, ‘Powerless’, ‘Power grab’, ‘Married to the problem’ and ‘When a disaster is born’. And ‘disaster’ reminded me of a school teacher who was famed for his false praise; when students provided an answer that was wrong, he would say: “Sir/Madam, you are a star, a disaster.”

A disaster is an unexpected event. In South Africa, we have a disaster on our hands. Well, disasters actually, and most of them, are self-made. The disaster I will focus on is the electricity disaster.

In his State of the Nation Adress (SONA), which he delivered on February 2, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that “the National Disaster Management Centre has consequently classified the energy crisis and its impact as a disaster. We are therefore declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects”. Consequently, an Electricity Minister in the Presidency will be appointed.

The President continued: “The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the roll-out of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply. Where technically possible, it will enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from loadshedding.

“And it will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements, while maintaining rigorous environmental protections, procurement principles and technical standards.”

Where Eskom’s challenges originated from has been well documented. So, quite ironically, the SONA, which will surely be known as the ‘electricity state of disaster’, acknowledged former President Thabo Mbeki’s attendance in the words of welcome. He was the only former President who was physically present that evening.

The President has the power, in terms of the National Disaster Management Act, to declare a crisis a National State of Disaster if existing legislation cannot adequately deal with the problem. This gives government powers to release available resources to tackle the disaster, appoint people to render emergency services and to bypass existing laws in the procurement and delivery of goods and services. It is implemented by a Cabinet member who heads an intergovernmental committee to mitigate the disaster through coordination between national, provincial and municipal bodies and the National Disaster Management Centre. This is in itself highly problematic; think of the opportunity for corruption.

So, would you consider the electricity situation to be a disaster, a catastrophe, a cataclysm, a debacle, a tragedy, an accident or a misfortune?

To assist you, the Collins, Oxford, and Cambridge dictionaries offer the following definitions. A disaster is an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction. A catastrophe is a sudden, extensive or notable disaster or misfortune. The Greeks viewed it as a ‘terrible disaster’. ​A cataclysm is a sudden disaster or a violent event that causes change. A debacle is a complete failure, especially one that results from bad planning and organisation. A tragedy is an extremely sad event or situation. An accident is something unpleasant that happens which was not intended. A misfortune is an event that causes an unfortunate or distressing result.

If you are reading this piece on the date of its publication – February 24 – in five days’ time, Eskom will celebrate its centenary. A bit of trivia: cakes and candles originate from ancient Greeks, who celebrated the birth of Artemis, the goddess of the moon, by baking round cakes. The lit candles were placed on the cake to represent a glowing moon, while their smoke carries wishes and prayers to the sky-dwelling gods. Arguably, what South Africa now desperately needs is a divine intervention.