President Cyril Ramaphosa pulled a serious trump card at his State of the Nation Address (SONA 2023) and announced the soon-coming appointment of a Minister of Electricity.
What is a Minister of Electricity?
The president’s address, which was scheduled for 19:00, was delayed by the raucous heckling caused by the EFF.
Several points of order raised by senior ranking members of Julius Malema‘s party culminated in a jaw-dropping brawl between the Red Berets and Parliament’s armed security officials.
Following a 10-minute suspension, Ramaphosa returned to the podium to deliver a sobering address about the frail state of the nation.
However, things took an awry turn when on the subject of rampant loadshedding, the president declared South Africa’s energy crisis a national state of disaster, effective immediately.
One of the crucial steps, Ramaphosa explained, in the government’s crisis response strategy is the appointment of the Minister of Electricity in the Presidency.
What will they be responsible for?
This newly formed portfolio will automatically assume executive powers and have oversight over every core movement in the coordinated response to the energy crisis.
Ramaphosa explained that the person appointed in this role will work night and day to ensure that, at any given time, every cog performs its function in the disaster management response to loadshedding.
Unlike a Cabinet minister, the head of electricity in the presidency will have a closer reach to the Executive.
While an official job spec with specifics about the role of the minister of electricity has yet to be made public, inferences can be drawn on the fact that, perhaps, this portfolio may oversee the work of the Energy Department.
Ramaphosa also confirmed that the work of the minister of electricity will not impede the role of Presidency Minister Mondli Gungubele as head of the Special Cabinet Committee on Eskom.
