South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has scrapped plans to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos because of the energy crisis affecting the country, his spokesman said on Sunday.
The cancellation comes as violence broke out in Boksburg over power supply issues.
Timeslive.com reports that roads in Boksburg have been blockaded with burning tyres and rocks.
Many have been calling for the head of Ramaphosa over power supply problems.
According to Timeslive, a national shutdown by fed-up South Africans over load-shedding, unemployment, corruption and the 18,65% electricity increase, is looming, amid calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s head.
Heavy load-shedding coupled with the announcement of a massive hike in electricity costs has spurred a call for a national shutdown on February 9, which is trending on social media platforms such as Twitter.
In Nigeria, electricity has been epileptic for decades and is in a more terrible state compared to South Africa, but hike in electricity cost continue to rise, in what many see as a conspiracy between the the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission and distribution companies.
Two weeks after widely reported hikes in costs, the regulator remained distant and quiet, even to media enquiries. Pathetically, Nigeria does not generate and distribute up to one fifth of what ESKOM, the South African power public utility does.
In South Africa, Timeslive reports further, it isn’t immediately clear who is responsible for the protest action.
A wide-circulated notice states: “Remember. February 9 is national shut down day.
“Tell your family, tell your friends 2024 is too far! People are losing their jobs, having their homes taken.”
“Every town must have its own coordinator and the main march must be in Cape Town, where the people will march to the state of the nation event — where politicians and their partners will be wearing glittering fashion while we suffer in darkness.
“We have the power … we must not listen to that speech, we will be protesting and having town meetings …
“We need to advise premiers of provinces to accept the memorandums or face removal.”
Politicians from opposing parties are also using the national shutdown hashtag to express their positions on the electricity crisis.
South Africa is experiencing record blackouts due to troubles at state-owned power utility Eskom over the past 12 months.
Ramaphosa was due to lead a government delegation to the WEF event in the Swiss Alps next week but will instead remain home to hold talks with Eskom and political leaders, said presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya.
“Due to the ongoing energy crisis, President @CyrilRamaphosa has cancelled his working visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos,” Magwenya wrote on Twitter.
“Currently the President is convening a meeting with leaders of political parties represented in parliament, NECCOM (National Energy Crisis Committee) and the Eskom board.”
Scheduled blackouts have burdened South Africa for years, with Eskom failing to keep pace with demand and maintain its ageing coal power infrastructure.
But the outages have reached new extremes over the past 12 months, with the firm blaming sabotage and crime.
This week, it said it would implement blackouts of up to nearly 12 hours a day until further notice after a string of generators broke down.
The outages have cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost output, disrupting commerce and industry and angering the population.
On Saturday, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, called on South Africans to join a protest march to “voice their anger” at the situation.