JUST IN: Here is the NEW Electricity Minister

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the NEW Electricity Minister. Ramaphosa said his most immediate task is to address the severity of load shedding. 

JUST IN – THE NEW ELECTRICITY MINISTER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

The NEW Electricity Minister appointed is Kgosientso Ramokgopa. 

Ramaphosa said the primary task of the new Minister would be to significantly reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding as a matter of urgency.

‘To effectively oversee the electricity crisis response, the appointed Minister will have political responsibility, authority, and control over all critical aspects of the Energy Action Plan.

‘This will help to deal with the challenge of fragmentation of responsibility across various departments and Ministers which, while appropriate under normal circumstances, is not conducive to a crisis response.’

Ramaphosa

‘THE PRIMARY TASK WOULD BE TO REDUCE THE SEVERITY OF LOAD SHEDDING AS A MATTER OF URGENCY’

He furthermore said the Minister would be expected to facilitate the coordination of the numerous departments and entities involved in the crisis response, work with the Eskom leadership to turn around the performance of existing power stations, and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity.

‘To enable the Minister to do this work, I will, in terms of section 97 of the Constitution, transfer to them certain powers and functions contained in relevant legislation.

‘In the State of the Nation Address, I announced that a national state of disaster had been declared to respond to the electricity crisis and its social and economic impact.”

Ramaphosa

HE ALSO NEEDS TO ENABLE ESKOM TO UNDERTAKE CRITICAL MAINTENANCE MORE QUICKLY

Ramaphosa said the recently published disaster regulations empower the Minister of Electricity to issue directions to, among others, exclude critical facilities from load shedding where technically feasible, expedite various regulatory processes for energy projects, and enable Eskom to undertake critical maintenance more quickly and efficiently.

The Minister in the Presidency for Electricity will liaise with other relevant Ministers to ensure coherence in the issuing of other directions during the national state of disaster.

Here are five things you need to know about Ramokgopa:

HERE IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RAMAKGOPA

Ramokgopa was Tshwane’s mayor from 2010 to 2016. He was also a member of the executive council of the Gauteng government in 2019.

He was MEC for economic development, agriculture, and environment for less than five months before he resigned amid reported pressure from the ANC to replace a male MEC with a woman.

He works in the presidency as head of investment and infrastructure.

Ramokgopa holds a number of academic qualifications, including a BSc civil engineering from the University of Durban Westville (now a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal), a Master of public administration (University of Pretoria) and a Master of business leadership (Unisa).

RAMAKGOPA WAS THE TSHWANE MAYOR FROM 2010- 2016

He also has a certificate in executive development from Stellenbosch University and a PhD in public affairs from the University of Pretoria.

Ramokgopa served as leader of the South African Student Congress, the ANC Youth League at the University of Durban Westville, and the ANC branch in Atteridgeville, and as ANC ward 51 councillor from 2000 to 2005. 

He served as CEO of the Metropolitan Trading Company, an entity of the City of Johannesburg, CEO of the Johannesburg Market, and deputy chairperson of the Board of Trade and Investment in Limpopo.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa is too SICK for a crucial cabinet reshuffle but NOT for an Ankole auction

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa’s Cabinet is costing SA more than Zuma’s Cabinet

ALSO READ: Here are South Africa’s top TEN ‘weakest’ ministers NOW

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa and Cabinet knew about Eskom corruption – and did nothing