South African cities scramble to keep the lights on
REELING from South Africa's worst-ever electricity crisis, local authorities across the country are turning to private suppliers to help businesses and households keep the lights on. President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of disaster over the energy crunch, which is seen wiping as much as 2 percentage points off economic growth this year. With South Africans spending up to 10 hours a day without electricity due to rolling blackouts by struggling state utility Eskom, the tourist city of Cape Town aims to halve power cuts for its residents by 2026, its executive director for energy Kadri Nassiep said. Officials plan to procure up…