Cape Town – Most opposition political parties slammed the state of the nation (Sona) speech by President Cyril Ramaphosa as not inspiring, with most of them saying the announcement of the new minister of electricity was not well thought out.
The president of the IFP, Velenkosini Hlabisa, said the address was “a long-winded narrative around Eskom, load shedding and the creation of new promises with no precise action plan.”
He said there was no need for the appointment of a new minister of electricity as it means Ramaphosa would end up creating a ministry for each challenge like the ministry of potholes.
“But what became clear was that the president passed a vote of no confidence on ministers Pravin Gordhan and Gwede Mantashe.
“We really do not believe that we need a minister of electricity, we might end up with the minister of potholes, minister of pit toilets, all we need is a minister who will deal with minerals and energy and resolve the crisis around electricity,” Hlabisa said.
BREAKING NEWS: Ramaphosa announces that he has resolved to appoint a minister of electricity in the presidency. The new minister would oversee the energy plan put in place to address the load-shedding crisis. He says this cabinet addition is just for the power crisis. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) February 9, 2023
Joining those who slammed the speech by Ramaphosa was Mzwanele Nyhontso of the PAC who said there was no need for the department and Ramaphosa’s speech was about pleasing certain people.
“We reject this thing of appointing a minister of electricity, what does that mean? Does that mean there are problems with Prasa we will have the minister of trains? Does that mean very soon we will have a minister of corruption?” he asked.
The leader of the DA, John Steenhuisen, said there was no need for Ramaphosa to declare a state of disaster to deal with the ongoing power crisis in the country.
“The big concern for us is the national state of disaster, I think it was ill-considered, I think that we saw the looting and maladministration the last time there was a state of disaster.”
Steenhuisen slammed the appointment of the new minister of electricity saying it was going to complicate the challenge.
He said this has added a third politician on top of Gwede Mantashe and Pravin Gordhan on the way to be used to solve the crisis.
Cosatu President, Zingiswa Losi said they need clarity from Ramaphosa about the new minister of electricity, saying they didn’t see that coming.
“What is the meaning of it, is the ministry that the president said he has created in his office, the ministry of electricity.
“We think we need more engagement on that because we did not see that one coming,” Losi said.
Despite this bashing, Mantashe defended the decision and said the new minister would be like a project manager tasked solely with resolving the ongoing power crisis.
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