On the list: Gwede Mantashe
The new electricity ministry is moving into Gwede Mantashe’s territory and a conflict has begun in the corridors of ANC headquarters. A cold war between energy minister Mantashe and President Cyril Ramaphosa is emerging over control of Eskom.
The Mail & Guardian has been reliably informed that Mantashe this week gave Ramaphosa an ultimatum to fire him after the president made known his plans to take some powers from the energy ministry and transfer them to newly appointed electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
Mantashe has acted as the pitbull in Ramaphosa’s corner, protecting him when he faced an onslaught in the ANC’s national executive committee over the Phala Phala saga. Mantashe was said to have used his position as the party chair to subdue ANC leaders who were calling for Ramaphosa’s head.
A fallout between the two over the electricity ministry could jeopardise their alliance in the ANC going into next year’s elections.
Highly placed sources in the party and cabinet say the move by Ramaphosa is in response to the pressure from party members and investors for him to move Mantashe away from mineral resources and energy.
Mantashe has been accused of not expediting the move to renewable energy and being a proponent of the continued use and development of coal-generated power.
In January, while addressing the ANC’s Free State elective conference, Mantashe said there was a calculated plan to make sure the energy department was removed from his custodianship.
He complained that there had been internal discussions about splitting the department into two entities — one which would handle mineral resources and one overseeing energy.
“Within the ANC there is a new debate that says energy and mining must be split.
“They will split energy from my department [of mineral resources and energy] then say they are taking Eskom to energy in terms of the resolution from the conference of the ANC,” said Mantashe at the time.
However, this is the first time the plans have come to light. The clash between the two ANC leaders is said to have come after Ramokgopa reported back to Ramaphosa on his month-long oversight tour of Eskom power stations.
Insiders with intimate knowledge of the events said Ramokgopa met Ramaphosa about two weeks ago, detailing the systematic and structural rot at Eskom. He is said to have told the president the challenges at Eskom were also policy driven.
Ramokgopa had raised concerns over his limited powers to fix the ailing power utility.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramokgopa’s powers were still under discussion.
“The issue of powers for the Minister of Electricity is still being processed,” he said.
Ramokgopa’s spokesperson, Nombulelo Nyathelo, said the minister was working with a skeleton staff, alongside both Mantashe and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, under whom Eskom falls.
After the reportback two weeks ago, the M&G understands that Ramaphosa sent a letter to Mantashe and Gordhan this week telling them that he would be removing certain powers from the two ministries to hand over to Ramokgopa.
“There is a feeling that Mantashe is being rendered useless, to empower this new ministry, which was not part of the [ANC] policy conception.
“When you conceive ministries, you have policy discussions but here it’s something new and it’s not properly conceived.
“There are teams that have been working on these powers and already there is some serious dissatisfaction in terms of the power of the minister of electricity,” a cabinet member said.
Sources said the changes would strip Mantashe of his ability to make decisions on energy-related matters and shrink his department to focus on mining.
“Mantashe had no problem with Ramokgopa before this, because he was under the impression that DMRE [the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy] would stay intact. Taking the whole of energy out of DMRE strips the department of a large chunk of its work.
“All hell is bound to break loose,” the cabinet source said.
Another top ANC leader said Mantashe was furious enough to mention his dissatisfaction during a meeting held on Tuesday with former president Thabo Mbeki.
“Mantashe said he was a miner by profession, with … better things to do if people did not value his role after he had put his head on the block for them,” said the top ANC leader.
A source close to Mantashe said this week’s snubbing of the minister on the energy panel at the annual South Africa Investment Summit was another sign that he was being sidelined.
Insiders said Mantashe was removed from the energy panel at the summit, adding salt to his wounds. The minister is said to have been irritated by the decision having only been alerted when he arrived in Sandton that he would only be on the mining panel.
The isolation and decision to strip Mantashe of his powers could result in an all-out war between him and the president.
Mantashe, together with some of his allies from the Eastern Cape, have been credited with ensuring Ramaphosa’s re-election as ANC president last year.
Tension between Ramaphosa and his Eastern Cape allies were first noticeable when the president removed Mondli Gungubele, a key figure in Mantashe’s faction, from his inner circle at the Union Buildings during a cabinet reshuffle earlier this year.
Gungubele, who headed Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign, was removed as the minister in the presidency to make way for Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s ally, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
However, even with the imminent changes of power, Mantashe and Ramokgopa sing the same tune when it comes to coal and its importance to the electricity grid.
On Thursday, Ramokgopa announced that he planned to extend the life of Eskom’s power plants that were reaching their end of lives by 20 years which would cost more than R400 billion.
The electricity minister stressed that some difficult decisions would need to be made going into winter, as well as in the longer term. These included considering refurbishing the coal-fired power stations to stabilise the grid.
A source added that the ANC was still dealing with “the cartel stories and now we have to explain our position to the international partner group because they don’t believe we have intentions of ever letting go of coal, let alone the carbon implications that come with that”.
“It was a bit reckless of our comrade to utter such statements, especially before discussing it with us. It undermines comrade Cyril’s words.”