ANC Chairperson Gwede Mantashe at the opening of the 9th ANC Provincial Conference at Imvelo Safari Lodge in Free State, Bloemfontein, 21 January 2023. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
President Cyril Ramaphosa has poured cold water over suggestions that his decision to allocate some of Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe’s powers to Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is an attempt to clip his wings.
Ramaphosa was speaking to The Citizen on the sidelines of the ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) visit to Mahikeng on Saturday.
Ramokgopa can now determine the types of energy sources from which electricity must be generated according to a proclamation signed by Ramaphosa on Friday. This was previously Mantashe’s responsibility.
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“There is no clipping of the wings of any minister, particularly the minister of mineral and energy. I must disabuse people on the notion that the wings of this minister have been clipped.”
This comes three months after Ramokgopa was appointed into the newly created ministry of electricity, but without any powers.
While Ramaphosa was deliberating on which powers to allocate to Ramokgopa, Mail and Guardian reported that Mantashe had dared him to axe him should he take some of his powers. Ramaphosa, however, maintained that he was merely doing his job as stipulated in the Constitution.
“It is an allocation of tasks which I as the president in terms of the Constitution can do and this is precisely what I have done.”
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The president said he has made it clear that he was appointing Ramokgopa to focus day in and day out on electricity.
“The minister of minerals and energy focuses on policy, drafting the next IRP (Integrated Resource Plan), regulations and the arranging of the procurement of renewable energy. The minister of electricity is focusing on load shedding,” said Ramaphosa.
Mantashe has previously protected Ramaphosa when he faced an attack by the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) over the Phala Phala saga.
Since being appointed electricity minister, Ramokgopa has often come under fire for his ineffectiveness in reducing load shedding, despite his many publicised visits to power stations.
Some have even gone to the extent of calling him a minister of tourism or project manager.
Responding to this criticism, Ramaphosa said Ramokgopa is a minister of megawatts.
“He is out there hunting for more megawatts to put on to the grid.”
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