Crisis of Kgosientsho: Electricity minister with no power, no budget, no oversight, no problem

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa

• The National Assembly will not establish a committee to oversee Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
• This is because his ministry won’t have its own budget, but will draw from that of the Presidency.
• No committee is also overseeing the Presidency. However, the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation will get a committee.

A parliamentary committee will not oversee Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as his ministry won’t have its own budget, the National Assembly Rules Committee has decided.

On Tuesday morning, the rules committee dealt with the establishment of new ministries in the Presidency and whether portfolio committees should be established to oversee them.

“The minister does not have a specific budget but draws from the budget of Vote 1 – the Presidency. The minister’s responsibilities form a dedicated programme which is located in the Presidency. The minister does not have a dedicated department and is supported by staff in the Presidency and outside thereof,” read a presentation by Secretary to the National Assembly Masibulele Xaso.

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ANC MP Qubudile Dyantyi suggested that a committee shouldn’t oversee the Ministry of Electricity as it didn’t have its own budget. This was supported by ANC MPs Mina Lesoma and Doris Dlakude, the latter also being the governing party’s deputy chief whip.

The Presidency also has no committee oversight.

The rules committee was expected to discuss this later on Tuesday.

But the ANC delegation on the subcommittee that reports to the rules committee was last week insistent on kicking the can down the road, instead of deciding whether a committee should be established to oversee the Presidency.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appeared unaware that the Ministry of Electricity was situated in the Presidency.

“For now, there isn’t anywhere a suggestion that the Ministry of Electricity will receive resources from the Presidency. I don’t recall that. My understanding is that the Ministry of Electricity will be working with minerals and will also be working with the Ministry of Public Enterprises.

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“And therefore, it shouldn’t make sense at all that the Ministry of Energy falls under Vote 1, because Vote 1 is the Presidency. And at this point in time, my understanding is that it does not fall under the Presidency. Can somebody assist me there if I am wrong?” she said.

ANC MP Hope Papo came to her assistance. He said there was a national crisis committee on electricity in the Presidency. Clearing things up for Mapisa-Nqakula, he said this team was “backing up” the work of the Minister of Electricity.

The rules committee supported the establishment of a committee to oversee the Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, also situated in the Presidency.

Xaso’s presentation read:

“This committee should have been established yesterday (Monday),” Dyantyi said.

This comes as the government is still coming to terms with the establishment of the Ministry of Electricity.

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Discussions between legal teams from the Presidency, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the Department of Public Enterprises were still ironing out which powers should be delegated to Ramokgopa, ANC economic transformation subcommittee chairperson Mmamoloko Kubayi said.

In February, after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of the electricity ministry in his State of the Nation Address, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who lauded the move, said the ministry wouldn’t have its own budget.