SA won’t need electricity minister by end of 2024

South African Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said an anticipated improvement in electricity supply should see him out of a job by the end of 2024.

The country, which has been plagued by crippling power cuts, will get an additional 6 000 megawatts of supply from state sources by the end of the year, Ramokgopa told an infrastructure conference organised by Ninety One Plc in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

“There will not be a need for this ministry by the end of the year,” he said. “I will be the happiest person within three months. More and more you will wake up to a hot bath. Much later a cooked meal at home.”

Ramokgopa was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to help resolve the 15-year power crisis last year. Outages, often lasting 10 hours or more daily, have slowed economic growth and have become a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling African National Congress’s management of the economy in the run-up to national elections in May.

Within about a week, the government and the state power utility, Eskom, will announce how private investors can participate in an expected R390 billion expansion of the national transmission grid, Ramokgopa said.