Newly appointed Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa flanked by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile. Photo: Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
Newly appointed Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said he is ready to serve South Africa and begun his work to help Eskom resolve load shedding.
Ramokgopa was officially sworn in as Electricity Minister on Tuesday night, after being appointed to the portfolio during a Cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The new minister has a mammoth task to address the current load shedding crisis which has seen the deliberate power cuts spike to unprecedented stages in recent months.
Speaking after his swearing in ceremony, Ramokgopa said he will not be introducing a new energy action plan.
“Like the president said when he was introducing the minister last night, we are not introducing a new plan. There’s existing energy action plan in the country. So, all I am assigned to do is the delivery of that energy action plan within the time frames that we have committed ourselves to.”
“And that will be the basis for me reporting to the country, to what extent we are achieving the energy action plan,” Ramokgopa said.
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Ramokgopa has requested patience as he deals with the current load shedding crisis.
“One of the major difficulties in the management of this crisis is that we failed to communicate sufficiently to the general public. But I want to say that I am more than confident that we are going to resolve load shedding.”
“It’s going to be daunting, but we will communicate to the public about how we are addressing this situation and also share what the timelines are, going into the future. [This so that] we get to be held accountable against the timelines that we have communicated to the general public.
Eskom acting spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, said it will not be issuing a media statement yet on the appointment of the new electricity minister.
“However, we welcome the appointment and looking forward to immediately start working with the new minister in ensuring that we address load shedding,” she said.
ALSO READ: Mixed views on SA’s new electricity minister
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