Rumours that he was against the move were squashed when energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, yesterday defended President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to appoint a minister of electricity at the State of the Nation (Sona) debate in the Cape Town City Hall.

Last week Ramaphosa told the nation that his government would soon be appointing a minister for electricity as part of attempts to end load shedding. Mantashe, whose ministry is currently overseeing Eskom, said the plan demonstrated government’s seriousness in addressing the country’s energy crisis.

During yesterday’s debate Mantashe made it clear that he supported the appointment of an electricity minister and Ramaphosa’s decision to declare the country’s energy crisis as a national disaster.

“The new minister will focus on Eskom’s coal power stations to ensure that they give us the required energy. [The appointment] is emphasising urgency of execution and delivery of projects on time.”

However, IFP founder and the party’s MP, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said the party did not believe that appointing the minister was a solution to the country’s energy crisis.

IFP chief whip, Narend Singh, in the stead of Buthelezi who could not attend Tuesday’s debate, said appointing an additional minister would only serve to increase state costs.

“The appointing of a minister of electricity in the presidency is another way of saying that our minister of public enterprises and our minister of minerals and energy have failed in their duties. This bloating of bureaucracy is not a solution.

“What we need is people with the requisite skills, unbeholden to political masters, who reap no side benefits, and who genuinely seek what is best for South Africa.”

“In the absence of this, and in the absence of clear-cut strategies, with firm timelines and deliverables for investors, business and consumers, our fragile economy may well break” said Singh.

DA leader, John Steenhuisen, said the only solution to the country’s energy crisis was the removal of the ANC from power.

“The truth is that the ANC is not going to lead us into the future. It represents the past.
The challenges we face are large, and tough battles lie ahead of us.”

Ramaphosa will respond to the debate on Thursday.