Ramokgopa and Gordhan a no-show at ‘energy demand’ indaba

South Africa’s ministers of electricity and public enterprises Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Pravin Gordhan, who are fused in a power struggle over policies to end load shedding, did not show up at the inaugural National Demand Side Management Indaba in Muldersdrift on Monday.

Both were scheduled to deliver key note addresses at the event.

State-owned power utility Eskom on Monday launched a new intervention to help curb electricity demand and ease pressure on the national grid – the Demand Side Management (DSM) programme, which it says has the potential to save 1 500 megawatts (MW) of energy.

Both ministers were caught up with ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) engagements following its meeting at the weekend, where the electricity crisis dominated discussions.

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Power struggle

Gordhan was scheduled to speak on the new DSM programme and energy policy, while Ramokgopa was to address delegates on the National Energy Crisis Committee’s energy plan.

Their absence comes as an apparent turf war over Eskom powers hots up, and the ANC puts pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to manage a power battle between three ministers overseeing the country’s energy sector – Gordhan, Ramokgopa and Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.

Since his appointment to the newly formed ministry of electricity nearly two months ago, Ramokgopa’s ministerial authorities and power procurement powers have remained blurred.

Currently the powers to procure lie with Mantashe, and without a firm decision on the trio’s powers, the country’s plans to ease the burden of load shedding face more obstacles during a critical time when the peak demand winter season sets in.

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Bloomberg reported that ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula endorsed Ramokgopa at the weekend, saying he was not appointed only to (find that he needs to) struggle for power.

Mbalula called on Ramaphosa to intervene in the hope of dissolving the power battle and clearing up uncertainties.

“[Ramaphosa] is the president of the country and the president of the ANC. He must intervene and he can’t allow anarchy in this moment when we need to keep the lights on,” he said.

Mbalula said in a media briefing that the issue of Ramokgopa’s power must be addressed expeditiously.

“In our view there shouldn’t be an issue about what the minister of electricity can get in terms of powers … We expect the minister of electricity to have some powers to be able to do work and intervene directly.”

Addressing the NEC at the weekend, Ramokgopa said the party has agreed to an immediate winter intervention to decrease the intensity of load shedding. This includes R30 billion that he said is available to buy diesel directly from suppliers to cut costs.

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“We know that demand is going to far outstrip supply … and the gap between generation, or supply and demand, is going to grow. Therefore we need to employ extraordinary measures to close the gaps so that we don’t put additional pressure on the South African economy,” Ramokgopa said.

On Monday afternoon, Eskom said it will have to ramp up load shedding “over the next few days” following seven generation units failing. It said load shedding will be intensified to Stage 6 on Tuesday between 00:00 and 05:00, at which point Stage 4 will kick in. It will implement Stage 6 from 16:00 to midnight again, it said.

“Breakdowns are currently at 17 955MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5 042MW.”

It said a generating unit each at Duvha, Grootvlei, Kendal, Majuba and Medupi power stations, and two at Kriel, were taken offline for repairs, while three were returned to service at Camden, Matla and Tutuka power stations.

This article originally appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission.
Read the original article here.

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