'I need to experience the problem' - Ramokgopa vows to hit ground running
The country's new Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says he is confident that load shedding will soon be a thing of the past.
He made the remarks after being sworn in as minister at Tuynhuys in Cape Town on Tuesday night.
Ramokgopa said his immediate focus would be to increase the available electricity on the grid.
"My approach is; I see myself as a portfolio manager who has got executive authority. So it's an important point that I am making, because my attention is on the detail, so I am out of politics of electricity and energy.
"I am at the plant level of how do you raise the energy availability factor so you go to issues of instrumentation turbines, where can you procure them, how can you procure them? It is price competitive, are we going to the original equipment manufacturer, do we have the right skills to be able to install this we are at the level and not at the level of load shedding stage 6 and stage 7?"
READ: New ministers sworn in during Tuynhuys ceremony
Ramokgopa said the energy crisis cannot be resolved by appointing a minister.
"This is one of the few occasions you will find me wearing a suit. We're on the ground, project managers are on the ground. I don't get to be explained about the problem, I need to experience the problem.
"I am an engineer, and engineers are trained to resolve problems… The more technically complex it looks, the more impossible it looks, the greater my appetite. So this is something that I am ready for, looking forward to working with the collective of the players.
"The appointment of an electricity minister doesn't resolve load shedding, the actions of the electricity minister working with the player stakeholders to resolve load shedding."
