Put your hands in the air like you just don't care: Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa's bout of carefree dancing at the ANC's 2019 election manifesto review on Sunday - just before the country was pushed into Stage 6 load shedding - has come under fire. Photo: Twitter screengrab @MmusiMaimane
A video capturing the carefree onstage dance routine of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho “Sputla” Ramokgopa during the ANC’s 2019 election manifesto review, at Soweto’s Dobsonville Stadium, has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
The dancing electricity minister found his celebratory groove on Sunday afternoon before load shedding was ramped up indefinitely to stage 6 on Monday.
Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane posted the video on X (formerly Twitter), slamming Ramokgopa and his fellow ANC members for their “song and dance” before yet another bout of escalated load shedding hit the nation.
Maimane also accused the ANC of employing Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF tactics.
“We know the strategy is to save money as much as possible to buy diesel for the three months before elections. They want to use Zanu-PF games on South Africans,” he said.
The Bosa leader implored South Africans not to forget the hours of load shedding they were forced to endure when they head to the polls for the national elections next year.
“When we vote, we must not forget anything.
“We must not forget every hour of load shedding , every rechargeable lamp we bought, every gas stove, every powerbank. Parents must not forget every flask for hot water for baby formula.
“Business owners must not forget every generator purchased and every solar panel installed because of load shedding,” Maimane concluded.
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On Tuesday morning, Ramokgopa explained in his update on the energy crisis that a double blow of increased planned maintenance, as well as unplanned losses, are to blame for the implementation of the higher stage of load shedding.
He cited various other factors contributing to the dreaded return of stage 6 load shedding. These include:
ALSO READ: Eskom implements stage 6 load shedding until further notice
Ramokgopa said that for years, Eskom’s units had been “exploited” without the necessary maintenance or the “philosophy of maintenance”.
“That has caught up with us,” the electricity minister said. “That is why we are in the situation we find ourselves in.”
ALSO READ: Ramokgopa explains why Stage 6 load shedding is back and likely to get worse
In June, it came to light that Ramokgopa will earn a salary in excess of R2.4 million to primarily improve the generating capacity of Eskom‘s ailing power plants.
The minister, who was the mayor of Tshwane from 2010 to 2016, also boasts a staff complement of 12 members, resulting in an estimated annual cost of R10.7 million to taxpayers.
At an eye-watering R13 million a year, we can only hope the dancing minister and his team’s “philosophy of maintenance” will improve – indefinitely.
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