Johannesburg – The DA electricity shadow minister Samantha Graham-Maré said the appointment of Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as minister of electricity is beginning to look more and more like a damp squib.
Graham-Maré said Ramaphosa’s appointment of the new electricity minister is an attempt by the president to assure the South African public that he and his party were serious about addressing the load-shedding crisis.
“The minister of electricity is apparently tasked with exactly this… However, it is becoming more apparent that the position was created purely to appease us and not as a genuine solution to the problem.
“If President Cyril Ramaphosa was serious about holding Ramokgopa to account to solve South Africa’s untenable electricity crisis, he would have already gazetted the responsibilities of Ramakgopa’s portfolio so that the new minister was empowered to do his job,” said Graham-Maré.
She pointed out that the reports of a turf war between Ramokgopa and the ministers of enterprises and minerals Pravin Gordhan and Gwede Mantashe are clearly the consequence of this indecisiveness, and lack of action by the president.
“Why is it so hard for the president to clearly set out the responsibilities of these three ministers? In addition, Ramaphosa should publish Ramakgopa’s performance contract so that South Africans can hold him to account for the ongoing load-shedding crisis. What we have now is a minister who is working in a vacuum while the economy is being sucked dry due to the unrelenting load shedding,” she said.
Graham-Maré highlighted that Ramakgopa’s plan to end load shedding, released this weekend was “an uninspiring laundry list to buy time and hope for the best”.
“Hope is not a strategy. What the country needs now more than ever is a clear and sustainable plan that will reduce load shedding and provide a pathway to a sustainable electricity supply.
“Parliament must play its part and establish a parliamentary ad-hoc committee to ensure that Ramakgopa is directly accountable to Parliament. The DA has submitted a motion to this effect, and we urge all parties represented in Parliament to lend their support,” Graham-Maré said.
The Star