Johannesburg - Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said there is no bad blood between him and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, as speculated by some people.
Mantashe said he is clear on his role and mandate.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed the former Tshwane mayor and current head of infrastructure in the Presidency, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, as the Minister of Electricity last month to work towards ending load shedding.
This appointment followed an epic failure by power utility Eskom to keep lights on; hence, the country plunged into stages 6, 5, and 4.
Mantashe said he is in constant communication with Ramokgopa.
"There is no fight between me and the doctor. Ramokgopa, we talk almost every seven days; we phone, we visit; we talk because our work is intertwined; I need to support him for him to do his duty fully," said Mantashe.
Speaking in an interview with one of the talk radio stations on Tuesday, Mantashe said the two departments should be able to complement each other.
Mantashe said the fight for renewables must not be transferred to the government.
He said he does not know about IPPs and said the Minister of Electricity was established. Renewable energy lobbyists went public and said renewables would be bought by the Minister of Electricity, because there is bad blood between a minister who talks about energy broadly, including coal, and liberals who think the country must only look at renewables.
He further said: "I don't want us to fight in government — a battle that does not belong to us. If the battle is between a minister of energy and renewable liberals, allow it to be in that space. Don’t transfer it to the space of government because it will actually pollute it. The government must sort things out, talk about them, and give the powers that are necessary to whatever minister, and there will be no fight about that.“
When asked if he was willing to give up the power for the electricity minister to procure IPPs, Mantashe said what is important is not just to take Section 34 and say, "Look, give it to the minister of electricity."
"Identify the areas that need the facilitation of the minister of electricity buying energy, which will contribute to the solution of the load shedding problem. I don’t have a problem with the minister of electricity having the power to procure new energy, as long as it is clearly defined that new energy is a solution to load shedding," said Mantashe.
When asked if the president did not send him a letter outlining the new energy distribution strategy and clarifying all of this, Mantashe said no.
He said there is an agreement now that will be clear on his role and Ramokgopa's.
Meanwhile, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula in a media briefing following the party’s National Executive Committee meeting that took place over the weekend, outlined emergency interventions to address the electricity crisis.
Mbalula said the number of measures to resolve the crisis includes introduction of urgent interventions to mitigate against the projected winter surge in electricity demand, improvement in the performance of Eskom’s fleet, including the exploitation of peaking plants that should be supported and closely monitored, implementation of a coordinated public campaign to encourage households and industries to reduce electricity demand, the need to introduce financing facility to ensure equitable access to renewable solutions, the need to closely monitor the scheduled return to operation of three units at Kusile and the accelerated path to operationalise the unit in Medupi, and the need for an accelerated programme to bring renewables into the energy mix.
“The NEC noted the need to revisit the decommissioning schedule in order to balance energy security and our climate commitments,” Mbalula said.
The Star