STAFF REPORTER|
DA leader John Steenhuisen has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe from his Cabinet for failing to provide solutions to the power crisis at Eskom.
Steenhuisen was briefing the nation on the electricity crisis and how to tackle Eskom’s collapse.
The DA is accusing Mantashe of repeatedly blocking renewable energy projects, saying he has allowed the Risk Mitigation Power Producer Procurement Programme to stall.
The party has also criticised Mantashe for forging ahead with plans to set up another power generation company to rival Eskom, through repurposing old Eskom coal plants into gas power stations and building new nuclear plants.
“It is incomprehensible that he has managed to remain in this crucial position despite his multiple failures,” said Steenhuisen.
“He is responsible for the dysfunctional regulatory framework that has prevented our energy sector’s recovery, he has repeatedly blocked renewable energy projects, he has allowed the Risk Mitigation Power Producer Procurement Programme to stall in the middle of the crisis, and he cannot see beyond coal. He must go, and he must go now.”
Steenhuisen added: “This crisis has to be a wake-up call for President Ramaphosa and his government. A sign that, when it comes to keeping the lights on, they are out of their depth, and their “command and control” approach to government belongs on the scrapheap of history.”
“If we want to move forward as a nation, we have to be forward-thinking in everything we do. And particularly when it comes to tackling this energy crisis.”
The embattled parastatal Eskom warned South Africans to brace themselves for higher stages and further escalation of load shedding this week as the national grid remains severely constrained.
The grid has been under severe pressure for the past week as the power utility ramped up the power cuts.
Eskom announced this week that they would be implementing various stages of loadshedding after units tripped at the Kendal Power Station.
The trip at Kendal was the latest in a line of failures that totaled 42 generating units.
In recent months, the DA has repeatedly criticised Mantashe’s ‘unwavering support’ for coal and nuclear and accused him of hindering a range of solutions to South Africa’s short term electricity generation crisis.
“His continued belief in the Grand Inga hydroelectric power scheme and a nuclear new build as potential saviours point to the fact that Minister Mantashe is completely out of touch with both the scale of the immediate crisis, its impact on our people and our economy, and the timeframe within which solutions can be implemented,” the party said recently.
“With Eskom and the Department of Energy both admitting a shortfall of between 4000 and 6000 MW of generation capacity, the priority for the country must be to bring new generation online as quickly as possible – in a truly technology agnostic fashion, that prioritizes time and cost to implement.”
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