“It’s unfair to place blame on myself or the government. What should I do with Eskom as Mineral Resources and Energy Minister? The power utility is a matter [that falls] under Public Enterprises,” Mantashe infamously told News24.
And yet, there it is, in his job title: Minerals and Energy Minister. Energy Minister.
As if that wasn’t enough, he actually signed a performance agreement with President Cyril Ramaphosa on 30 October 2020 stating that it was his job to “augment supply with 2,000MW of emergency power”.
He signed it. He’s a Cabinet minister. He’s supposed to be a leader.
But this is a leader that the State Capture commission recommended be investigated by the National Prosecuting Authority.
And here we are, at Stage 6 blackouts, reliant on a corruption-tainted, (allegedly) Bosasa-bribed ANC Top Six official who is seemingly doing everything to stall emergency power supply from cheaper, renewable sources. (The media has to say Mantashe is allegedly, as described above, but he admitted getting Bosasa gratification in evidence to the Zondo Commission.)
What is not an allegation, but public knowledge, is that Mantashe has totally failed to do his job to save South Africa from this power crisis.
Now he’s trying to argue that it’s Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan’s job, not his.
But just above both his and Ramaphosa’s initials on page four of his performance agreement, under the heading “Minister’s responsibility”, is clear wording: “Create maintenance space for Eskom by augmenting supply with 2,000MW of emergency power, additional power from IPPs and generation for own use in line with IRP 2019.”
The next line reads: “Implement the Integrated Resource Plan 2019.”
This IRP 2019 plan, which Mantashe produced six months after getting the job in 2018, took eight months to be gazetted (July 2020) and another eight months (March 2021) for winning bids to be announced.
That call for emergency power was manipulated to favour Karpowership, not renewables, as it included the odd requirement power to be provided from 5am to 11.30pm.
Sure enough, the controversial Turkish company won 1,200MW of the power supply. Now it seems Mantashe and his department are falling over themselves to extend the bid window so Karpowership can still be part of the process – despite numerous failures to obtain environmental and other necessary financial closures. News agency amaBhungane has revealed the Turkish parent company’s involvement in multiple dodgy contracts, and how its 20-year “emergency” provision plan will damage our ocean. But Mantashe keeps extending the deadline, every time Karpowership hits a hurdle.
Then there’s his reprehensible comments last December that environmental activists trying to prevent Shell’s ecologically damaging exploration of the Wild Coast was “apartheid and colonialism of a special type”.
It’s been two years since he opened bidding for IRP 2019. Without the clear bias towards gas projects, we should already have had 2,000MW of additional renewables power coming into the grid.
Meridian Economics says, had Mantashe gone through with the IRP 2019 and another of the power-bid initiatives, producing an additional 5,000MW of wind and solar capacity, it “would have allowed Eskom to eliminate 96.5% of load shedding in 2021”.
It would also have reduced the diesel being burnt by 70%-80% and resulted in a “net annual saving to Eskom of at least R2.5-billion”. Eskom has guzzled R5-billion in just the first five months of this year, with June’s bill reaching R1.5-billion. Last year, Eskom said it spent R15-billion on diesel.
Any one of these points above are damning – not least a sitting Cabinet minister being referred for prosecution. But for Mantashe, like all of Ramaphosa’s increasingly dysfunctional Cabinet, consequence management isn’t part of government’s mindset.
Those illegally striking Eskom employees – from the National Union of Mineworkers, where Mantashe was once secretary-general – must be laughing at the threat of consequences for their ill-timed, economically destructive unprotected strike. If the ANC chair and a Cabinet minister can get away with it, what have they got to fear? DM168
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.
