South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced plans to appoint a minister to be in charge electricity at the Presidency.
This will be an addition to the Mineral Resources and Energy Minister.
The move is aimed at tackling the prolonged power crisis which is crippling businesses and throwing people out of job.
“I will appoint the Minister for 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,” Ramaphosa said last Thursday during the State of the Nation Address.
He said the minister would work with the Eskom board and management on ending power cuts.
“The minister will focus full-time on the work with the Eskom board and management on ending load-shedding and ensuring that the energy action plan is implemented without delay.
“As to remove any confusion, the Minister for Public Enterprises will remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of Eskom.”
The President earlier declared a state of disaster to deal with the country’s worsening electricity crisis.
Mr Ramaphosa said the state of disaster is effective immediately.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com