Electricity minister may be slapped with summons for ‘endless postponements’ in Western Cape legislature

29 Aug 2023

Kgosientsho Ramokgopa missed a meeting in the Western Cape legislature on Tuesday 29 August and could face a summons as this was the latest in a string of missed meetings. Committee members were riled because two oversight committees — on education and community safety — had to be cancelled to accommodate Ramokgopa’s now missed meeting.

A meeting about the impact of the energy crisis in the Western Cape had to be suspended as the Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa did not pitch up for a meeting. This caused the committee to not only issue another meeting with Ramokgopa but this time with a stern warning that if he should be absent from another meeting, the legislature’s legal team could be roped in to issue a summons against him.

Ramokgopa was due to brief the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Energy Crisis on the current status of energy supply and its effect on the Western Cape.

However, a few minutes into the meeting, chairperson Christopher Fry (Democratic Alliance) said Ramokgopa tendered his apology for missing the scheduled meeting.

This caused ire among the committee members.

Responding later to Daily Maverick, Ramokgopa’s office said that his absence “was purely on the basis of clashes with other Cabinet commitments”.

‘It’s not right’

In parliament on Tuesday morning, Committee member Deidré Baartman (DA) who is also the chairperson of the education committee said she had to cancel a meeting within her committee. This was echoed by Gillion Bosman (DA), the chairperson of the community safety oversight committee, who also had to cancel a planned committee meeting.

Baartman, the DA’s deputy chief whip in the legislature said “the Western Cape Provincial Parliament lost a full day of committee meetings” after other scheduled meetings had to be cancelled to accommodate Tuesday’s meeting with Ramokgopa, which he missed.

During the meeting, committee member Ferlon Christians (African Christian Democratic Party) — who was part of both the education and community safety committees — said “it’s not right” that the committee received a 32-page presentation late on Monday evening, then had to study it and then in the morning, the minister would not appear. Christians said this showed “disrespect towards the Western Cape Provincial Parliament”. He echoed statements by various committee members that the meeting should not continue. He then said a whole day was “wasted” to accommodate the minister.

Peter Marais (Freedom Front Plus) said Ramokgopa knew “he can tell the eight other provinces bullshit, but he can’t do that here”, but he withdrew the remark before Cameron Dugmore (ANC) could remark the word ‘bullshit’ was unparliamentary language. Marias went further to state that Ramokgopa would be put under pressure from the committee members due to the quality of questions asked and suggested that Ramokgopa be reported directly to the President, who appointed him.

Aishah Cassiem (Economic Freedom Fighters) said the minister “can’t be wasting our time like this” as there were questions over electricity and the new BRICS deal that he needed to account for.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Ramokgopa inks deal with Chinese firms to fix energy crisis – and urges them to ‘work with speed’

While several committee members talked about a summons, Nomi Nkondlo (ANC) said she did not support a summons, but rather a concern should be registered. Cayla Murray (DA) said a letter should be sent to Ramokgopa for another meeting, where it should be stated if he failed to pitch, a summons could be an option to be explored. In the end, a motion was heard from Baartman: to postpone Tuesday’s meeting, then speak to the programming authority in the legislature to find an urgent meeting slot for a new meeting with Ramokgopa and if he would be absent again, the legislature’s legal advisors and Office of the Speaker would be called upon to look at exploring a summons.

Dugmore also questioned when Fry received communication that Ramokgopa would miss the meeting and asked for all communication between the committee and Ramokgopa’s office about planned meetings.

Fry said he received notification from Ramokgopa’s office on Monday 28 August at 7:01pm that the minister would miss the scheduled meeting.

In the end, the committee supported the motion raised by Baartman, with the DA, ACDP, GOOD, FF+ and EFF members supporting the motion, while the ANC and Al Jama-ah members rejected the motion.

Another motion was raised by Cameron Dugmore to call the meeting within three weeks — which was rejected by the DA, ACDP, EFF and the FF+, in place of a recommended 10-day period.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Political schism revisited

After the meeting, the DA said the meeting had previously been rescheduled multiple times to accommodate Ramokgopa’s schedule over the past two months. Tuesday’s postponement was the fourth time that Ramokgopa failed to attend a scheduled meeting. Fry — the party’s Western Cape spokesperson on energy — said: “Minister Ramakgopa’s efforts to duck accountability cannot be allowed to continue. The people of the Western Cape have a right to know what national government is doing to resolve the energy crisis, and the Minister must be held to account if his efforts are not sufficient”.

He added: “this situation of endless postponements cannot be allowed to stand, and the DA will now investigate the possibility of a summons against the Minister should he fail to attend the Committee’s urgent meeting request, which will compel him to explain exactly what progress — or lack thereof — he has made in resolving ANC-sponsored load shedding for good.”

Ramakgopa responds

“The Minister’s unavailability to previously scheduled Western Cape committee meetings was purely on the basis of clashes with other Cabinet commitments,” said Tsakane Khambane, the ministerial spokesperson when contacted by Daily Maverick on his absence at the meeting.

“Any attempts to politicise the Minister’s absence at this morning’s meeting is unfortunate as the approach to the energy crisis has been non-political,” she said and confirmed a delegation had been sent on Ramokgopa’s behalf.

Khambane said it was also ‘patently untrue’ that Ramokgopa was “avoiding accountability as he has been open and transparent in all the work that he has been doing”.

Ramakgopa had on three occasions briefed the Western Cape executive council and the mayor of Cape Town on energy plans as well as engaging other metros and provincial executives, said Khambane.

“The Minister will continue to openly engage with stakeholders across the energy value chain and all of society, as he has been doing from the onset, and has committed to reaching out to the Western Cape Legislature to occasion a further opportunity to address the Adhoc Committee,” said Khambane.

“Whilst we will continue to uphold the highest standard of public accountability, including to the Western Cape Legislature, it is practically not always possible for the Minister to attend, in person, each of the many requests,” she added.

Ramokgopa, who has now been in the job for almost six months, briefed the media on Sunday, where he said the country could see fewer hours of power cuts during the day. DM

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‘It’s not right’

Political schism revisited

Ramakgopa responds