World News | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announces cabinet changes, including appointment of new power minister amid national power crisis

JOHANNESBURG, March 7 (PTI) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday announced changes to his cabinet amid the country’s escalating power crisis, including the appointment of a new power minister.

Speaking live to the nation on Monday night, Ramaphosa said, “The purpose of these changes is to ensure that the government has the proper mandate and guidance to deliver on the promises made in the State of the Nation and Budget speeches (earlier years). ”

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“We’ve said that the people of South Africa want action, they want solutions and they want government to work for them. All executives have been instructed to focus on those agreed actions that will now make a meaningful difference , which will lead to real progress next year, which will set the stage for a sustained recovery going forward,” he added.

Ramaphosa listed priority issues that the government must address, such as load shedding, unemployment, poverty and rising cost of living, as well as crime and corruption.

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Acknowledging widespread public concern about the delay in announcing a new cabinet weeks after he promised to do so, the president said it was due to “a number of procedures to be followed, some of which have to do with constitutional requirements regarding the appointment of members of the National Executive Council”.

“Understanding that the sixth government has just over a year left in its term, these changes are not intended to overhaul the executive branch of the country. The changes I am announcing now are intended to fill vacancies that have arisen in the executive branch and to more effectively steer the government toward areas that require urgent and decisive action,” he said.

The two new positions announced are Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as Minister of Electricity and Maropene Ramokgopa as Minister with specific responsibilities for planning, monitoring and evaluation to give greater focus on government performance. Both will report directly to the president.

Ramaphosa named the widely touted Paulo Machatilai as the new vice president, replacing David Mabuza, who resigned last week, and listed 11 ministers and 11 deputy ministers in the existing posts, Most of them are new ministers, and some have been transferred from other posts.

“The new minister’s first task will be to significantly reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding as a matter of urgency. In order to effectively oversee the electricity crisis response, the appointed minister will have political responsibility, authority and control over all key aspects of electricity. Energy action plan,” Ramaphosa said.

The new post is expected to urgently address the crisis at beleaguered Eskom, which has had to introduce load shedding across the country for a total of up to nine hours a day, as governance of national electricity provider Eskom is currently spread across several different ministries.

Eskom, once voted the best electricity provider in the world, has been reduced to an empty shell after massive looting over the past decade due to state occupation and vandalism by corrupt suppliers and workers found at its power stations .

Ramaphosa was calling on the new appointees to have “zero tolerance for any corruption that exists and to put the interests of the South African people in the work they do”.

Analysts had mixed reactions to the new appointments.

Some welcomed fresh blood into key posts, while others condemned the retention of underperforming and long-serving ministers in key posts such as minerals and energy affairs and local government.

Others, however, say Ramaphosa’s daunting task will be to unite disparate factions of the ruling African National Congress ahead of next year’s general elections, with many predicting that the ANC will lose its seat since Nelson Mandela became the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. in 1994.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)