Ramaphosa cancels Davos trip amid South Africa energy crisis

Cyril Ramaphosa, who acknowledges ‘the frustration of households, parents and learners’, his spokesperson has said. Photograph: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland as South Africa grapples with an unprecedented energy crisis that has resulted in daily power cuts of between eight and 11 hours across the country.

Anger is growing as offices, hospitals, factories and tens of thousands of small businesses are forced to close, with outages also causing increased crime, traffic disruption and massive wastage as food supply chains collapse.