Cape Town - While opposition parties piled on pressure against the appointment of yet another minister, President Cyril Ramaphosa used his reply to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate to defend the decision, saying the resolution of the energy crisis needed effective coordination across several departments and public entities.
He dispelled criticism that the planned appointment would cause confusion and fragmentation and might also result in turf wars among ministers dealing with energy and Eskom.
“The minister will be responsible for driving the various actions being coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee to end load shedding as a matter of urgency.
“This appointment will ensure that there is a minister who is ultimately responsible for resolving load shedding and who is able to work with all fellow Cabinet ministers, departments and entities to do so,” he said.
“The Minister of Electricity will be focused day in and day out only on addressing the load shedding crisis, working together with the management of Eskom and the board.
The Minister will be leading the National Energy Crisis Committee and interacting with all other departments in the spirit of cooperative governance,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the state of disaster would be used to mitigate the social and economic effects of load shedding and accelerate the measures necessary to close the shortfall in electricity.
“As I said in the State of the Nation Address, we will ensure that environmental protections and technical standards are maintained, and that procurement is undertaken with transparency and proper oversight,” he said.
He added that it would be used to get rid of unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way of urgently bringing new generation capacity onto the grid.
He also sought to dispel the perception that the government was abandoning coal as a fuel source.
“We should all remember that coal-fired power stations provide 80% of our energy source and will therefore continue to provide the bulk of our ‘base load’ supply into the future.
“We are committed to a future energy mix that consists of a diversity of energy sources, including coal, renewables, nuclear, gas, hydro, storage, bio-mass and other forms of energy,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the unbundling of Eskom into three separate state-owned entities was not out of step with international trends, saying more than 100 countries, including China, Germany and Russia had established independent transmission and system operation companies.
While acknowledging that the Sona debate raised important issues and some constructive suggestions, Ramaphosa criticised opposition parties for being merchants of despair and resorting to dishonest and self-serving rhetoric.
“Some of these honourable members have failed to come up with practical suggestions or solutions that can resolve the many problems that our country faces today.
“Some choose to belittle and deride what has been achieved over the last five years in the midst of extremely difficult conditions because it does not serve their political interests to recognise the progress that has been made,” he said.
Cape Times