President Ramaphosa Cancels Visit To WEF As The Country Faces Worst Power Outages In Decades

President Cyril Ramaphosa has canceled his visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos due to the country's ongoing energy crisis.

The announcement was made on Twitter, Sunday, by the Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.

"Due to the ongoing energy crisis, President canceled his work visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Currently, the President is convening a meeting with leaders of political parties represented in parliament, NECCOM, and the Eskom board," the tweet read.

The annual meeting of the WEF is slated to commence on Monday and continue until Friday.

Ramaphosa was tasked with leading a delegation of government officials and business leaders from South Africa to the annual gathering in Davos to promote the country as an attractive location for foreign investment.

The President's priorities had to swiftly shift to concentrate on domestic matters, though, as civil society and opposition political parties put pressure on the government to handle the crisis after Eskom imposed Stage 6 load shedding for an extended period this week.

Now, Ramaphosa will hold talks with various ministries to find a solution to the power outages that are crippling the economy, Reuters reported.

Eskom declared Jan. 11 that Stage 6 load shedding will continue indefinitely until further notice.

The country's food security and employment have both been threatened by these prolonged power outages, which have severely impacted the mining and agricultural sectors.

Following Eskom's approval to raise energy rates by 18.65% in the fiscal year 2023-2024 and 12.74% in 2024-2025, public outrage has grown over a lack of power supply as electricity bills for both consumers and businesses have risen.

John Steenhuisen, the leader of the opposition, said he wrote to the president and requested an urgent meeting to discuss the country's growing power crisis. "I want to hear from him firsthand why his government refuses to implement the very obvious solutions to this crisis," he said, as per Business Live.

But according to Magwenya, he hasn't received a letter from Steenhuisen asking for a quick meeting with the president to discuss the problem. "As things stand, I am not aware of a letter from Mr. Steenhuisen. Maybe our office has received it, but information has not reached me," he said.

He did mention that the president was reachable to meet with party leaders about matters of national importance. Magwenya added that the president always finds time for these engagements and will attend them if necessary.

Magwenya, earlier this week, said that Ramaphosa deeply regrets the country's present energy predicament, which has forced the nation into Stage 6 load shedding, and that he was stricken with the need to find a long-term solution, News24 reported.