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‘No conflict between Ramokgopa, Mantashe and Gordhan’ – Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa shrugs off conflict claims between Ramokgopa, Mantashe and Gordhan, saying the ministers work well together.
Picture File: President Cyril Ramaphosa during a media briefing at Eskom’s Megawatt Park in Sandton, Johannesburg. Picture: Gallo Images
President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied claims suggesting there is a conflict between the ministers tasked with addressing South Africa’s electricity crisis.
The ministers in question are Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Gwede Mantashe who heads the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) as well as Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Ramokgopa on Saturday morning said load shedding was here to stay, at least for now.
ALSO READ: Load shedding ‘won’t end this year,’ says Ramokgopa as he announces timelines
Ramaphosa explains mandate of each minister
Addressing the media outside the home of the late Tiego Moseneke, the younger brother of former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, on Saturday, Ramaphosa said Ramokgopa’s task is to ensure that load shedding is ended.
“The task of the minister of DMRE is on an energy side to be the repository of the regulation, the laws that we have on regulating energy while the Minister of Public Enterprises will be dealing, as I said when I made the announcement, with the issues of Eskom in relation to governance, in relation to the restructuring of Eskom so that we deliver precisely what we would deliver, a restructured Eskom which will effectively become a well-governed organisation.
“So, there is no conflict and of course in the media, there’s a talk of this conflict and that conflict… there is no conflict as far as I am concerned and I know exactly the delineation of the tasks of these three ministers and truth be told, the ministers themselves are surprised that there is this talk of conflict,” said Ramaphosa.
WATCH: Ramaphosa on ‘conflict’ between Ramokgopa, Gordhan and Mantashe
Ramaphosa says the ministers work well together
He said the three ministers work very well together, saying in many ways, this is a good architecture which enhances integrated government which will address the national challenge of load shedding.
“There is no conflict and there is no crisis, government goes on and work is underway,” Ramaphosa added.
ALSO READ: Mantashe, Ramokgopa must focus on keeping lights on, forget ‘territorial battles’, says Mbaks
Increased load shedding stages does not mean closer to grid collapse
South Africans have for the better part of this week been plunged into stage 6 load shedding with some even suggesting that stage 8 was implemented.
While denying implementing stage 8 load shedding this week, in an interview with The Citizen, interim Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena also said the increased load shedding stages does not mean the collapse of the power grid is in sight.
WATCH: Increased load shedding no reason to fear grid collapse, says Eskom
Load shedding was dropped to stage 3 on Saturday morning before being ramped up to stage 4 in the afternoon.
The electricity crisis is one of the major talking points at the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting currently underway in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
