ANC ministers must not play the blame game

Our ministers sure know how to put their foot in it. Last week, it was Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe instructing South Africans to stop moaning about load shedding because the “electricity crisis is a global phenomenon”.

This week, it was Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan telling parliament the ANC cannot be blamed for the power problems.

Really? Mr Minister, who exactly should we blame? It’s been a miserable few weeks for South Africans, with load shedding even reaching stage 6.

Having to contend with three painful bouts of load shedding daily, businesses have had to close, commuters have had to endure the nightmare of navigating their way to and from work with no traffic lights, and households have had the added headache of how to cater for their families due to the unpredictable load shedding schedule.

Political analyst Levy Ndou was spot on this week, saying: “The ANC as the governing party has the responsibility of providing capacity and resources for all the SOEs, including Eskom.”

He added: “Gordhan is trying to shift responsibility while he has the political responsibility of ensuring the effective running of Eskom and, just like other ANC ministers, he represents the governing party and if things collapse, they must take the blame for that.”

Energy expert Tshepo Kgadima was also on the money, saying “the ANC is squarely to blame for their obdurate failure and or refusal to decisively act against patently rogue ministers like Gordhan who wantonly violated the constitution and a whole raft of laws pertaining to macroeconomic policy, energy security and industrial policy.

The 2024 elections cannot come quick enough for the people of this country so they can take the power back from what is arguably a totalitarian fascist ANC regime under Cyril Ramaphosa.”

Our ministers are masters at side-stepping taking responsibility for the failures in their respective portfolios. Is it too much to ask for you to engage your brain before you open your mouth in the future?

ALSO READ: Load shedding: ‘Don’t shift the blame, take responsibility’ – Analyst slams Gordhan and ANC