ActionSA to consider legal action against Ramaphosa’s ‘draconian state’

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of centralising power in his office, following the announcement of yet another appointment in the Presidency to deal with electricity blackouts.

“He is trying to consolidate all the powers – intelligence, small business – and now he has announced a minister of electricity.

“Millions of our people are unemployed and he creates another department that is not going to add value. We will be talking to our legal team tomorrow morning to challenge these draconian and irrational decisions before it’s too late.

“We do not want to see another Zimbabwe emerging while we sit and do nothing about it,” he said.

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Ramaphosa said the new minister of electricity will be based in the Presidency at the Union Buildings.

‘No need for new ministry’

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa described Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) as “long-winding, with new promises but no action plan.”

“What is clear though is that he passed a vote of no confidence in [Mineral Resources and Enegry] Minister Mantashe and Gordhan [Public Enterprises].

“But we do not need a new minister of electricity because tomorrow we will have a new ministry for potholes, for pit toilets…we don’t need that. We should not create more ministries causing more expenditure. Use what you have to fix the problem,” said Hlabisa.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald slammed the creation of a new ministry, saying Ramaphosa didn’t say anything new in his speech.

“It appears he took the last six Sona speeches and cut and paste them to come up with another speech. Nothing has improved for Eskom since he took over as President, in fact, it has gotten worse.

“And how many times must we hear about plans to create jobs when that never happens? The unemployment rate keeps rising every year.”

For United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa, Ramaphosa just keeps raising hope but has no team to implement any of his ideas.

“What will that new minister be doing really? I would have felt better if he appointed someone at the level of director-general who is a qualified engineer to coordinate all those things from his office.

“We already have two ministers responsible for energy in this country. This is a luxury we cannot afford.”

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