South Africa ends ‘state of disaster’ over electricity

By GERALD IMRAY
Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The South African government has terminated the national state of disaster it declared two months ago to deal with an electricity crisis, although there are no signs that the power problems are ending. The government ended the state of disaster Wednesday while Africa’s most developed economy still wrestles with nationwide rolling blackouts due to failures at the state-run power company, Eskom. Analysts have this week warned that Eskom’s own forecasts indicate that South Africa’s businesses and its 60 million people will experience electricity cuts for at least another year. The blackouts were a key contributor to South Africa’s economy shrinking by 1.3% in the fourth quarter of last year.