President Cyril Ramaphosa had barely completed his State of the Nation Address when the DA announced it was going to court over the declared National State of Disaster on energy. The presidential speech to underscore his administration is at work to fix the economy left the opposition unconvinced.

An electricity National State of Disaster was what the governing ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla had resolved in late January.

As its statement about that meeting said: "In solving the energy crisis, the NEC Lekgotla encouraged the President of the Republic to declare a National State of Disaster, which will also require that the ANC reconnects with our communities and society."

When a National State of Disaster was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) speech on Thursday, which talked about how "in a time of crisis, we need a single point of command and a single line of march", the opposition benches burst into heckling.

And even before Ramaphosa concluded his 8,210-word speech, the DA had briefed its lawyers.

"A National State of Disaster under the guise of dealing with the load shedding crisis will similarly empower the ANC to abuse procurement processes and...