By Zukile Majova
As South Africa battled stage 6 load shedding on Monday, the battle for control of the country’s R460 billion power utility Eskom has taken centre stage.
In a special meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee at Luthuli House, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that Eskom is migrating from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Department of Minerals and Energy.
It’s another coup for Minister Gwede Mantashe, the ANC pointsman on energy.
For a moment, it looked like Mantashe would not get his paws on Eskom — with Ramaphosa saying Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan would remain the shareholder representative.
This was in complete defiance of an ANC resolution to move Eskom to the Department of Minerals and Energy.
As the re-elected national chairperson of the ruling party, Mantashe is the most senior minister in the government and is widely regarded as a “coal fundamentalist” who will not allow the country to truly migrate from its heavy reliance on coal-fired power plants.
While the yet-to-be-appointed minister of electricity is expected to deal with resolving load shedding, the ANC trusts Mantashe to come up with long-term energy solutions.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said Eskom will be relocating to energy while entities like Transnet will move to the Transport Department.
“The NEC was taken into confidence by the president on this matter that this minister of electricity, his or her job, will focus mainly on load shedding,” said Mbalula.
“Nothing more nothing less. It’s a transitional mechanism.”
The ANC does not trust Ramaphosa and Gordhan’s plans to unbundle Eskom or to drive the $8.5 billion (R155 billion) Just Transition from coal to renewable energy sources.
Eskom is also about to be recapitalised with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana expected to announce that National Treasury will take over at least two-thirds of Eskom’s R400 billion debt.
That would free up over R300 billion in emergency funding for the utility to make urgent procurement to end load shedding.
Godongwana delivers his Budget Speech in parliament on Wednesday and he is expected to announce emergency funds to respond to the country’s energy crisis. He is also expected to address the National State of Disaster brought on by the recent floods in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
Pictured above: Minister Gwede Mantashe, “the ANC pointsman on energy”
Image source: @GwedeMantashe1
