The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has described the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on electricity, which President Cyril Ramaphosa approved of, as confusing.
The ministers of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa have entered into the MOU, which clarifies their respective responsibilities.
Ramokgopa will focus on all aspects of the electricity crisis and the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee.
He will exercise authority over the Eskom board and seek ways of ending rolling blackouts, as well as ensure the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.
The CEO of OUTA, Wayne Duvenage, says the MOU is not clear.
“You have to watch that there is no conflict of interest between these two. You can’t be both the referee and the player, which was often the case in the past. We really need a lot more clarity. Public Enterprises should really be pulling out of this and making sure that there are no blurred lines between the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – Gwede Mantashe’s portfolio, and Ramokgopa’s portfolio.”
Ramokgopa’s responsibilities include ensuring the improvement of generation capacity and the purchase of additional capacity. The minister is also charged with addressing matters relating to transmission, including requests for information for financing new transmission lines.
The MOU stipulates that the Minister of Public Enterprises remains the shareholder representative of Eskom. He is to support and assist the Electricity Minister in his dealings with the Eskom board and must steer the restructuring of Eskom in line with the Eskom roadmap.
Energy Crisis | ‘Eskom is still in a mess’: Wayne Duvenage
