Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, head of the Presidency’s investment and infrastructure office, has been touted as the new electricity minister.
President Cyril Ramaphosa caught the ruling ANC by surprise by reneging on a party resolution to place the state power company under the control of the energy ministry and is facing criticism for appointing an electricity czar within his office.
Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster Thursday over an energy crisis that is hampering the nation’s economy. The move will allow the government to circumvent regulatory hurdles as it tries to repair failed power plants and get emergency power to end blackouts that have lasted up to 12 hours a day since the beginning of the year.
The president’s plan to create the post of electricity minister in the presidency and leave Eskom under the control of the Department of Public Enterprises overturns a decision by the ANC to transfer control of the monopoly power provider to the power ministry. The decisions were made without consulting party structures, according to two members of the ANC’s National Executive Committee who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to comment.
“What was announced here today, we heard for the first time,” said Zingiswa Losi, president of Cosatu, which is in alliance with the ANC. “We had talked about phasing out the public companies department and moving those entities to the relevant ministries.”
The ANC is desperate to end the blackouts as soon as possible as it aims to retain its majority in next year’s elections.
The appointment of an electricity czar may allow Ramaphosa to sidestep a battle between Mineral Resources Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over control of power supply. Differences between the two ministers have frustrated efforts to implement the necessary reforms to address the cuts and the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition, has called for both to be removed.
Party members said they were puzzled by Ramaphosa’s announcement that Eskom would remain under Gordhan’s department so soon after the party’s decision last month to move it to the energy department. The ANC has a poor record of pushing through its resolutions and the latest decisions risk further damaging Ramaphosa’s standing with some in the party, one of the people said.
The appointment of a minister in the presidency to oversee the electricity portfolio is the latest move by Ramaphosa to centralize decision-making in his office.
Since the start of his administration, the president has established a kitchen cabinet of close advisers and allies housed in the presidency to do some of his executive’s designated work.
Appointments to his office include former mining executive Sipho Nkosi as head of a team tasked with removing restrictions stifling business, former deputy central bank governor Daniel Mminele as head of a climate finance task force and Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as head of infrastructure. and investment. office. Critics of the president have accused him of setting up a parallel structure to prevent the firing of underperforming ministers in his cabinet.
Ramokgopa, an engineer, has been touted by experts as a possible successor to Mantashe or potentially the new electricity minister, the people said.
Ramaphosa’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said the president will provide more details on the power minister’s role during a discussion of his speech next week.
