Cape Town – The new ministry that will guide South Africa through the electricity crisis will reportedly cost R100 million to set up.
Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa is expected to appoint a “significant” number of officials in the next few weeks, according to IOL.
Ramakgopa revealed the news over the weekend during his visit to the Koeberg nuclear power plant, the report said.
He said the Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF), which he helped launch two days after he was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, would come in handy in the recruitment of experienced and skilled labour for his office.
“We’re still working on the number, but it will be a significant number of people that we want to help us … those who have experience in (electricity) generation, the grid, project management and expertise on how to get the message out to the public to address issues of the demand. We’re aggregating those numbers,” the report quoted Ramokgopa as saying.
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The RMF was established in response to Ramaphosa’s request to private businesses to help capacitate the National Energy Crisis Committee, known as Necom, reported BusinessTech.
The report said a South African business group pledged R100 million to capitalise a fund in support of Ramaphosa’s efforts to end rolling blackouts and reform the electricity sector.
The money would be used to procure capacity and expertise to help support the implementation of the country’s Energy Action Plan over a one- to two-year period, the report said.
Ramokgopa has been going around the country, visiting Eskom power plants to explore the extent of problems leading to blackouts.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
