President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured South Africans that the new “transitory” Minister of Electricity will be bestowed with certain powers that will enable him to work towards ending loadshedding.
This comes as Eskom escalated rotational power cuts to Stage 5 today for the remainder of the week following the failure of 5 generating units of its ageing coal-fired power plants.
Ramaphosa tonight named Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the Minister of Electricity, nearly a month after announcing the establishment of this ministry during the State of the Nation Address early in February.
Ramaphosa said Ramokgopa’s primary task will be to significantly reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding as a matter of urgency as the government focuses on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.
“To effectively oversee the electricity crisis response, the appointed Minister will have political responsibility, authority and control over all critical aspects of the Energy Action Plan,” Ramaphosa said.
“This will help to deal with the challenge of fragmentation of responsibility across various departments and Ministers which, while appropriate under normal circumstances, is not conducive to a crisis response.
“The Minister will be expected to facilitate the coordination of the numerous departments and entities involved in the crisis response, work with the Eskom leadership to turn around the performance of existing power stations, and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity.
“To enable the minister to do this work, I will, in terms of section 97 of the Constitution, transfer to them certain powers and functions contained in relevant legislation.”
WHO IS RAMAKGOPA?
Ramokgopa is currently the Head of the Investment and Infrastructure office in the office of the President of South Africa.
The Infrastructure Fund leverages the expertise of various entities to fast track the development of infrastructure projects in South Africa.
Prior to this, he was Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Agriculture and Environment and has previously held the position of Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane.
Ramokgopa holds a number of academic qualifications which include a BSc Civil Engineering (University of Durban-Westville), Master of Public Administration (University of Pretoria), Master of Business Leadership (UNISA), a Certificate in Executive Development (Stellenbosch) and a PhD in Public Affairs from the University of Pretoria.
Independent energy analyst Lungile Mashele said Ramokgopa was the most likely candidate for the minister of electricity given his role at the Infrastructure Fund and his educational background.
However, Mashele said that like most people she was keen to understand further what the statement about transfer of certain powers and functions to Ramokgopa means.
“Does this include energy planning and the full scope of regulation. We need to be mindful that this crisis was created under the tenure of the ruling party,” Mashele said.
“We cannot afford to further deepen the crisis by procuring in haste resulting in the flaws we now see in Medupi and Kusile and the resultant financial burden created on the state electricity utility.”
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— Business Report (@busrep) March 6, 2023
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