President Cyril Ramaphosa is delaying the issuing of the proclamations on separation of powers following a reconfigured national executive, spurring a turf war between Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe and his Electricity and Energy counterpart Sputla Ramokgopa.
Sunday World can reveal that the two powerful ministers are fighting for control of the crucial Central Energy Fund (CEF), which houses important subsidiaries such as PetroSA.
The CEF is a schedule 2 state-owned diversified energy company whose mandate is to contribute to the country’s security of energy supply through exploration, acquisition, development, marketing and strategic partnership.
In its annual report for the 2021/22 financial year, the CEF Group reported a net profit of R62.6-million compared to R540-million profit reported in the
prior period.
Insiders have revealed that as the power struggle ensues, Ramokgopa has moved to meet CEF bosses, apparently telling them that he is the entity’s political custodian.
Mantashe, they say, insists that the Central Energy Fund remains firmly under his control despite the reconfiguration of the national executive.
The tit-for-tat between Mantashe and Ramokgopa is a result of the delayed publication of the proclamation by Ramaphosa clarifying functions and duties after the energy portfolio was split from mineral resources and merged with electricity. Like many other split departments, uncertainty has been rife since the constitution of the new cabinet about who is in charge of what function and entity.
Mantashe told Sunday World that there was no reason to suspect uncertainty over the CEF since the state-owned entity was in the petroleum space and therefore clearly within his mandate.
“All that is electricity is gone from me. Now I am dealing with minerals and fossil fuels. Petroleum provides 60% of all energy sources. There is no confusion; I can tell you that,” said an unflinching Mantashe.
“CEF is dealing with petroleum. The Central Energy Fund is holding a company for a number of companies in this space, including PetroSA and others; you can count them, and there is no debate about them being in the petroleum space,” he said.
However, insiders at electricity and energy confirmed that Ramokgopa had met with CEF leadership because the company is in the energy sector.
His goal was to get the ball rolling while everyone waited for Ramaphosa to issue the proclamation and settle the matter once and for all.
“That meeting with the CEF did take place shortly after the new cabinet was announced, placing minister Ramokgopa as minister of electricity and energy, marking the separation of energy from mineral resources,” said our deep throat, adding that the move was not “Ramokgopa flexing his muscle but just doing his job”.
“Minister Ramokgopa has all due respect for the process that must ensure legally and properly demarcating the entities that must either fall under mineral and petroleum resources or those that must fall under electricity and energy.
“While everyone awaits the president’s proclamation,” said the source, “we continue to engage with various stakeholders, including the CEF, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the landscape, identify priorities, and identify challenges, all in the interest of continuing with work.
“There is nothing wrong with genuine and honest engagement with the CEF for your own understanding because, at the end of the day, energy was once with mineral resources and is now with electricity, and there is a very blurry interlink between the two. As far as finality is concerned, that will be clarified once proclamations are made,” the person added.
The jostling for power between the two ministers is not new; the same was said to have happened when the standalone ministry of electricity was created towards the end of the previous administration. At the time, it was believed that Mantashe had taken issue with what he deemed an encroachment on the energy function by Ramokgopa, whom he
described as a “project manager” for loadshedding.
The energy space has been a policy and political hot potato since South Africa’s move towards the just energy transition to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Proponents of renewable energy and its powerful lobby within big business have been growing impatient with Mantashe, who is seen as the champion of fossil fuels, and machinations to strip him of his power have been mounting, with some adamant that the separation of energy from mineral resources was part of this agenda.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, did not respond to questions as to when Ramaphosa, who has been criticised for taking his time to take decisions, will publish proclamations to end the power struggles and uncertainty over who does what. Ramokgopa spokesperson Tsakane Khambane said: “The powers will be confirmed by the proclamation. The president has not yet signed the proclamation.”
