Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
(a) What plan does the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) have in place to ensure service delivery in the event of load-shedding at stage 8 or higher, (b) how does the PDMC monitor the impact of load-shedding on critical infrastructure and (c) what support is being provided to municipalities to mitigate the effects of load-shedding?
[a] The Provincial Disaster Management Centre has an Integrated Contingency Plan for Major Electricity Disruption which provides for a standardised multi-disciplinary response framework to the impacts of a national or regional electricity blackout. The plan establishes mechanisms to ensure an integrated response to manage the activities of government which will ensure on-going essential services in the province and minimize disruption caused by this emergency.
Further to the above, the Provincial Disaster Management Centre and municipal disaster management centres are always in a state of readiness and can be activated on short notice to ensure disaster coordination relevant to disaster mitigation, risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery.
[b] The Provincial Disaster Management Centre activates a Joint Operational Committee [JoC] as was the case in the previous loadshedding stages 4 &6 during July and again from 18 - 22 September 2022 which included a low centre activation.
The daily JoC meetings are attended by all stakeholders namely, Eskom, municipalities, provincial and national departments where the impacts of loadshedding are addressed specifically relating to critical infrastructure.
[c] The Provincial Disaster Management Centre held a workshop with municipalities and provincial departments on 21 September 2022 to provide guidance on planning for a major electricity disruption. In addition, the Centre has established a Technical Communication Task Team to address the challenges around communications during a major blackout.
Further to this, the PDMC developed an intervention plan which provides guidance to municipalities and departments regarding their short-, medium- and long-term planning priorities.
