Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Parliament that he will soon reveal the exact responsibilities of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
“The minister of electricity has his work cut out and finalisation, which is due to be announced very shortly, of actually all the mandate matters that he has to attend to, set out precisely exactly what he is meant to do,” TimesLIVE quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
Ramaphosa said that the minister’s tasks will be to execute plans relating to generation in the Electricity Regulation Act.
“They include matters of generation and the identification of the type of energy source we need. Thereafter, co-operating with the minister of minerals and resources and energy for the procurement process. Once it has been procured, the minister of electricity will ensure that it is implemented.
“He will deal with matters such as the financial close and also ensure that once there is financial close and it is implemented, the grid or transmission is ready. In this regard, (he) will also be working very closely with institutions such as the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) and in all of this will be co-operating very closely with the minister of public enterprises.”
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The president’s remarks came just a few days after Ramokgopa said he was not a “junior minister” and his presence in Cabinet was not “ornamental”.
Ramokgopa said this as he retorted to delegates who questioned what he is doing to combat the country’s issue of load shedding.
The minister faced the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), justifying his appointment as Electricity Minister and said that he is not a “junior minister”.
According to EWN, Ramokgopa said he was more than capable of leading the ministry in tackling the country’s energy crisis.
“I’m not a junior minister, so that’s one. There’s nothing in the constitution that attaches hierarchy to ministers. The second one is that my presence is not ornamental. I bring a significant amount of technical skills in addition to my political prowess,” he was quoted as saying.
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
