Durban - African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader, Reverend Kenneth Meshoe has said that the most significant pronouncement in President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday was the procurement of energy by municipalities.
"The most important thing that we appreciated that came from the president's speech tonight was for him to say municipalities that are doing well with their finances, will be allowed to procure power directly from independent power producers (IPPs).
"We know that IPPs have not been given the right to sell directly to municipalities, so we believe that is one of the best things he said tonight. There was an applause from both sides of the house, because we all welcomed that," said Meshoe, in reference to the governing party's MPs and opposition MPs.
He said that although Ramaphosa said "many things" on how he would improve the stagnant economy, "details were not given".
However, given that the president was "so specific" on the procurement of power, Meshoe said, he hoped that it would become a reality within the next few months.
He said Ramaphosa should have mentioned more about the country's crime problem, which inhibited investors. Violent service delivery protests were chasing away tourists and investors and had to be addressed, he added.
"This is a concern to the ACDP because we want stability in the country and policy certainty."
"In general, [Ramaphosa] has done much better than we had expected tonight," said Meshoe.