Tshwane residents have mixed reactions to the appointment of the Electricity Minister

Pretoria residents have expressed mixed reactions to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans to appoint an electricity minister.

Ramaphosa announced on Thursday evening during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) that he would appoint an electricity minister in the presidency to deal effectively and urgently with the country’s power challenges.

Here are some of the reactions by locals:

Lerato Sefatsa of Gezina said she really couldn’t be bothered by the announcement, saying that it didn’t make any difference as she was not affected by load-shedding in her area.

“I don’t know what’s load-shedding, we don’t experience it in our area, and I don’t know the reason behind it.

All that the president and his team has to do is make sure that our economy is stable and also secure the little jobs we have,” Sefatsa added.

She said it was amazing how things have gone, adding that during former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure load-shedding was dealt with.

Kobedi Sehume, a resident of Centurion in Highveld, said he didn’t understand what the problem was about the announcement of the ministry of electricity as the president was trying to be solution-orientated.

“I don’t know what is this hullabaloo about the announcement is because our country’s economy is about to collapse due to the electricity blackout – declining economy, rising unemployment, and many other socio-economic threats.

“It’s therefore urgent for these threats to be dealt with henceforth the president has declared a disaster on the energy crisis in our country to try and end the load-shedding,” Sehume reiterated.

Indie Boyce of Centurion believed that the president was just creating employment for his comrades, as currently, he had two ministers responsible for the utility who have proven to be failing in their task.

“We have ministers of energy and public enterprise, who are tasked with dealing with the crisis but it appears the crisis is dealing with them. What would be the role and function of the electricity minister, and what changes is he or she going to bring to the table?” Boyce exclaimed.

She said last time she checked the president planned to cut off the number of executives he had on his cabinet to save money, so she didn’t understand how appointing an electricity minister would achieve that goal.

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