Cabinet has welcomed the recent deliberations between the Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and the Mozambican Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Carlos Zacarias, to secure additional power from Mozambique to support SA's national grid.
Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said that in the immediate term, Mozambique can provide 80MW and a further 1 000MW over the medium term.
“Cabinet continues to urge South Africans to support the Winter Demand Management campaign launched by the Minister of Electricity to save electricity and reduce strain on the national grid, and help lower load shedding stages this winter,” Ntshavheni said.
Cabinet has further received a report by the Minister of Electricity, which details recent gains in the management of power stations and other operations which, for example, overcame the need for Eskom to burn diesel this past weekend and avoid load shedding.
The Minister of Electricity is set to brief media at 14h00 on Friday on these and other developments.
Operation Vulindlela
Cabinet has welcomed progress made under Operation Vulindlela with regard to the implementation of structural reforms in the areas of energy supply, logistics network and infrastructure, digital communications and the visa regime.
“The number of completed reforms has risen from three to 11, while a further 14 reforms are on track. The primary focus is on addressing the electricity crisis and improving the efficiency of freight rail, both of which are weighing heavily on economic growth,” Ntshavheni said.
President’s Coordinating Council
Cabinet has supported President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call during the meeting of the President’s Coordinating Council on 2 June 2023 to accelerate service delivery in response to the needs of communities.
The President directed the Council to accelerate service delivery improvement and address challenges in relation to legislation, governance and capacity constraints.
The meeting also considered reforms to the Water Act and Water Services Act to provide for better service delivery of water.
“Similarly, the Council was briefed on interventions by the Department of Transport for emergency work and routine maintenance, as well as primary road transfers from provincial authorities to the national road network for better management of provincial roads by the South African National Roads Agency Limited,” Ntshavheni said. – SAnews.gov.za
