Parts of government ‘not serious in delivering change we need’: Power bill delay slammed

CEO of Business Leadership SA (BLSA) Busi Mavuso has labelled delays in processing the Electricity Regulation Act Amendment Bill as unacceptable and inexplicable.

The bill was passed by cabinet in March but has been held up due to administrative bungling. The department of mineral resources and energy reportedly did not properly table the bill in parliament and therefore it has not started the process through committees to become law.

Mavuso said she is appalled at the delays in processing the bill that only came out last week.

“The bill is an urgent piece of legislation that is central to the joint efforts of business and government to solve the electricity crisis. It will allow for the creation of a Transmission System Operator to manage the national grid and procure electricity from a competitive market.

“It is key to attract the investment needed to expand the capacity of the grid. It will create a level playing field for all generators of electricity, both private and public. This is the fastest way to get new electricity onto the grid at the lowest cost,” Mavuso wrote in her latest newsletter. 

She warned of considerable risks the Electricity Regulation Act Amendment Bill will not be made law before the end of the year, and even possibly before elections next year.

“While a new bill was properly tabled last week as soon as the problems came out, it was improperly submitted in April. Had it been done correctly then, we would be much further down the road to solving the electricity crisis.”

The Mineral Resources and Energy Committee in Parliament already has a full agenda making it difficult to process the bill through the required public consultations in time for the year-end break.

“While the department did not submit the bill properly, it is also inexplicable to me why parliament did not raise the alarm earlier. It leaves me feeling like neither is taking the electricity crisis seriously enough.”

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The right-hand does not know what the left hand is doing

It suggests that there are silos in government and they are not united in delivering the resolution to the electricity crisis that the country desperately needs. The situation is highly frustrating for organised business, which has been working hard with government to resolve the crisis, she said.

Mavuso said considerable funds were raised through the Resource Mobilisation Fund and many BLSA members put hours of senior executive time into working with government on solutions.

“Of course, I know there are many in government that will be just as frustrated and disappointed as I am at the delays, including members of Necom, but for business to continue to invest its energy into partnering with government to resolve the crisis, we need confidence that such bungles will not happen.

“We need to see the institution of government holding people accountable when agreed actions are not taken, just as we would see in business.”

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Government must not take advantage of business

She said the Operation Vulindlela team operated by the Presidency and National Treasury has been a major catalyst for getting implementation done and has worked hard on driving the necessary legislation forward. However, there are many people in business who are concerned government is taking advantage of them, Mavuso warned.

“Business cannot expend its efforts and resources with no prospect of positive outcomes for the business environment. It makes it difficult to sustain the support of business.”

Electricity is a central priority in the new partnership between business and government through Business for South Africa. This new partnership includes a pledge by more than 120 CEOs to support government to resolve the most pressing challenges holding back our economy, including logistics and crime.

This new partnership revived momentum on both sides of the table to address these issues, but we must sustain it, she said.

“Business and government can achieve a great deal together, though of course we cannot expect everything to work smoothly in doing so. There will be hiccups and frustrations when things do not work to plan.

“Dealing with that has to be part of the partnership. We must jointly act to course correct when something goes wrong. The frustration over the Electricity Regulation Act Amendment Bill misstep is in large part because it is so unnecessary.

“It is purely a bureaucratic bungle, not one born from the complexity of achieving policy reform, but it has revealed that certain parts of government are just not serious in delivering the change we need. Our partnership has to include mechanisms to course correct in the face of such bungles. I hope that we can urgently find a route to do so.”