Western Cape Premier Alan Winde on Tuesday gave President Cyril Ramaphosa an ultimatum in writing.
He wants the number one citizen to come clean about the extent of the country’s electricity crisis or face a possible inter-governmental dispute.
Winde said the agricultural sector was entering a critical period and crops worth R60 billion were under threat due to load shedding.
The premier said Ramaphosa needs to be more transparent about the exact extent of the electricity crisis, and share short-, medium- and long-term plans to resolve it.
Winde said over 180,000 hectares of permanent crops could be under threat due to the continued power outages.
In a letter to Ramaphosa Winde wrote that an average farm in Ceres forks out over R1 million a month on diesel costs for generators, more than double the R400,000 it would usually spend on electricity.
He set Ramaphosa a 27 January deadline to share timeframes for restoring full electricity supply to the Western Cape failing which, an intergovernmental dispute could be lodged.
Winde believes the lack of transparency from the national government on the true extent of the crisis breaches Chapter 3 of the Constitution.
The Western Cape estimates having lost R8.2 billion in the gross domestic product in 2022 due to load shedding.
Winde said this figure will increase if the country is subjected to record levels of load shedding in 2023.
-EWN
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