Ramaphosa defends move to appoint electricity minister
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa's energy crisis does not need a new plan.
He says government needs to intensify the existing one.
He responded to the State of Nation Address debate on Thursday afternoon.
"We need to accelerate the implementation of the plan that we have," Ramaphosa told MPs at Cape Town City Hall.
"We have already taken a number of important steps to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding.
"The measures which the minister of finance will announce in next week's budget will boost the rollout of rooftop solar by businesses and households."
READ: Scathing response to Ramaphosa’s SONA ‘no surprise’ – analyst
He defended the decision to have an electricity minister to manage the response to the crisis.
Ramaphosa said their duties will not clash with those of the ministers of energy and mineral resources or public enterprises.
"This is not the case. The minister of electricity will be focused day in and day out only on addressing the load shedding crisis, working together with the management of Eskom and the board.
"The minister will be leading the National Energy Crisis Committee and interacting with all other departments in the spirit of cooperative governance."
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