Amid a move by some opposition parties to legally challenge the creation of a new portfolio in the Presidency that will be solely dedicated to resolving the country’s energy crisis, trade union federation Cosatu wants the new ministry to be given a chance.
During the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that a new portfolio of electricity will be created and housed in the Presidency.
“The minister of electricity will focus on full-time work with the Eskom board and on ending loadshedding and ensuring that the energy action plan is implemented without delay,” Ramaphosa told the joint sitting of parliament.
At the moment, there are two ministers in the Presidency responsible for state security – Mondli Gungubele and his deputy Zizi Kodwa. The changes were effected following the dissolution of the Ministry of State Security, which was an independent portfolio.
Now Cosatu, a key alliance partner of the ruling party, believes the plan will work only if it is given a proper mandate.
“The department must have a clear mandate and a funding model. It must not rely on government allocation and tariffs for funding. Part of the reasons why the Department of [Mineral Resources] and Energy and the Department of Public Enterprises failed is because [of their inability] to deal with electricity crisis functions of what each department should do. This created confusion,” Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla has said.
Pamla said the two ministers [of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe and Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan] had inherited the problems.
“It would be opportunistic to blame them for loadshedding and not resolving the energy crisis, the problems were there long before they came.”
Cosatu’s view contradicts that of its affiliate, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), which lambasted Ramaphosa’s move.
In a statement, Sadtu said: “We reject the appointment of the new minister to manage the electricity in addition to the two existing ministries [being that of minerals and energy and enterprise]. The minister for public enterprises has failed Eskom and SAA and cannot be rewarded with an additional ministry.”
The teachers union further pointed out that Ramaphosa had reneged on his promise to trim his bloated cabinet as part of austerity measures and to cut public sector spending and the wage bill.
During the ANC’s elective conference held in Nasrec, Johannesburg in December, it resolved that ineffective state-owned entities would be dissolved and their functions relegated to relevant departments.
At the time, it was believed that Eskom would fall under Mantashe’s department. It has since emerged that the announcement of the new portfolio had surprised Ramaphosa’s key allies, who now lament that the president did not put them into his confidence.
“This was a complete surprise to some of us. It felt like an ambush,” said one minister loyal to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa is also expected to reconfigure his cabinet in the coming weeks, where the new minister to occupy the electricity portfolio will be revealed.
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