Cape Town - 07 February 2023 - President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he will be appointing a Minister of Electricity during the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA). Photographer: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
If there is anything South Africa excels in, especially the government, it is producing plans to address problems.
Planning is critical but an incessant focus on always producing plans is counter-productive because the result may be to manage that change in and of itself.
This is exactly what President Cyril Ramaphosa has done by introducing a Ministry of Electricity in the Presidency. What on earth is this person going to be doing?
There are many structures dealing with the energy crisis. Adding another layer of bureaucracy is going to lead to confusion. We have the ministries of Energy and Public Enterprises, a state of disaster has been declared, there is a monitoring unit in the Presidency and so on. Who is going to be doing what about the electricity crisis?
The likelihood is that the structure will be stepping on one another’s toes. Ego issues are a potential threat, where competition might arise between the structures. We have seen this between the ministers of energy of public enterprises who are involved in a “Cold War” over who has power over this issue.
Of course, the worst thing that could have been on Ramaphosa’s mind, was to introduce this idea to give ‘political pork’ to one of his supporters.
* Dr Thabisi Hoeane, Pretoria.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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