Ramaphosa To Appoint Minister of Electricity

…..Africa should not cry of power outrage

BY SENIOR REPORTER

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the current energy crisis in his country a state of disaster and shall appoint minister of electricity in the presidency.

During his State Of the Nation Address (SONA), Ramaphosa caught South Africans by surprise and his message was received with mixed feelings.

Opposition leaders in Parliament asked if he was also going to appoint minister of water and minister of pot holes.

Addressing delegates in Cape Town, South Africa, Ramaphosa said the current energy crisis in his country was a disaster and it needed a whole government approach to deal with the challenge as businesses have gone on their knees with insurance companies suffocating to compensate those who would have lost their insured products.

“To deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us, I will appoint a minister of electricity in the presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee,” said Ramaphosa.

“The minister will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load-shedding and ensuring that the energy action plan is implemented without delay.”

The energy crisis is not only in South Africa but the whole of Africa and other European and Asian countries facing the same crisis hence the drive towards green or renewable energy as a result of climate change and poor planning when the population is increasing daily.

Some members of Parliament said the address was good to nothing is it failed to address the bread and butter issues which is affecting a lot of people in SA.

Africa is still developing, global economic shocks did not spare Africa, during and after Covid-19 periods and the generation of electricity has faced challenges of having old equipment which has lived its lifespan.

Zimbabwe is amongst the countries facing the same challenge, generating only 350 megawatt instead of at least, 1200 megawatts.

The government of Zimbabwe had earlier pointed to water levels in the Zambezi River, but again the old generators have failed the test of time.

South Africa’s economy has been hugely affected for the past months as it was running on power from generators due to unavailability of electricity. There is no supply of water from the reservoirs; the crisis is leading to national fiscal challenges.

To this end, economic growth is still fragile in Africa, as the continent has been hit by inflation, energy crisis and climate events.

People, nations and first world countries have targeted the environment; cutting down trees for domestic use, mass mining of coal and use of fossil fuels more than before to generate electricity, manufacturing of goods and transportation while campaigning on the migration to clean energy.

Endowed with vast mineral resources, Africa remain poor and affected by natural phenomenon if only the precious resources are put to good use; investing in power generation and clean energy will need a little time, political will and effort to achieve the goal.

Meanwhile, thousands of people are being evacuated to safer place in Maputo, Mozambique, after the country has been hit once again by floods. Heavy down pours are continuing as we go to publish.