South Africa is set to discover who the masked hero tasked with rescuing the country from the worst energy crisis in its history will be.
This comes as the Presidency announced on Sunday that President Cyril Ramaphosa will be revealing a new national executive at 7pm on Monday.
During this year’s State of The Nation address, Ramaphosa announced that a new ‘Minister of Electricity’ was on the cards and would be taking up a seat in the Presidency in a bid to solve the issues at ailing state-owned entity and energy provider Eskom.
The power utility has been hit hard in recent weeks, with former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter implicating senior politicians and powerful cartels in corruption which he alleged was at the root of the problems at Eskom.
This will give the new minister a tough task, as questions have been raised about the allegations made by the former CEO.
Many are also waiting to find out how the country’s new electricity boss will fit in with Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe, and De Ruyter’s recently appointed replacement, Calib Cassim, who has been made the interim Eskom group CEO.
With rumours running rife in the country, many expected Ramaphosa to announce his Cabinet reshuffle last Thursday,
The ruling party announced that the president had caught a bug during his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni’s state visit this week.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said on Friday that Ramaphosa had caught the flu during Museveni’s visit.
Despite the president’s illness, he was pictured all smiles at a dinner at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo with Ugandan MP Wilson Kanjwengye.
In a statement on Sunday, the Presidency moved to hit back at the rumours and accusations the president faced, announcing that the reshuffle would take place on Monday.
“Throughout this week, the president has attended to his duties while treating a common cold. You may recall that the president’s discomfort was visible during his public appearances as part of the state visit by His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda. Among the tasks the president undertook this week was continued consultation around forthcoming changes to the national executive,” the Presidency said.
“But, contrary to media coverage and speculation on social platforms, there was no plan for the president to announce changes to Cabinet on Thursday, March 2.
“As a result, there was no postponement or cancellation of such an announcement. On Friday, March 3, President Ramaphosa honoured an engagement of the Ntaba Nyoni cattle stud. This was a dinner preceding an annual auction. The dates for these events were scheduled a number of months ago,” the Presidency further stated.
Last year, South Africans went cattle crazy after an unreported robbery took place at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.
“In view of his discomfort, the president made a brief stop at Friday’s dinner – to greet guests. President Ramaphosa did not attend the auction itself the following day, as his cold persisted and required that he should rest.
“The accusations and misinformation we have seen around this matter are therefore completely unjustified. While he is still nursing his common cold, the president is finalising his reconfiguration of the national executive.
“Furthermore, there have been parliamentary processes such as the swearing in of certain members of Parliament that the president needed to take account of whilst he is finalising the formation of the executive,” the Presidency said in its Sunday statement.
“The president appreciates the importance of putting in place a national executive that will build on the commitments government has made for faster growth through our investment drive, economic reforms, public employment programmes, and an expanding infrastructure programme,” it further stated.
On the Cabinet reshuffle, the Presidency said: “This will reinforce government’s focus – as the president said in Sona – on those actions that will make a meaningful difference now, that will enable real progress within the next year, and that will lay a foundation for a sustained recovery into the future.”
The business fraternity will be hoping that Ramaphosa’s reshuffle will have a positive impact on the markets and accord a clear, definitive role for the new minister of electricity, as load shedding has had a detrimental effect on the South African economy.
BUSINESS REPORT