He noted that Ramaphosa’s plan was “essentially a good plan”, but urged that both Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan should “be kept as far away from its implementation as possible”.
“But not only these two ministers and the crisis committee. The president himself must hand over the plan to someone who can and will see to it that progress is made. “During his term as president we’ve been told about nine-point plans, seven-point reforms, and now the latest five-point energy response plan, and yet nothing of this has materialised,” he continued.“Since he became president, South Africa has shed 4 136 gig watts of electricity, and this past weekend we were down to half our generation capacity. He’s had his hands on the wheel for over a decade, and in that time our energy situation has deteriorated sharply.
“He needs to face the sober reality that neither he nor his ministers are capable of solving this predicament. They have lost control and our country is spiralling into disaster,” Steenhuisen added.