How Ramokgopa can roll back three stages of load-shedding
12 June 2023
Sakeliga has sent a report on value-for-money state procurement to the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa which, if followed, could reduce the need for load-shedding by up to three stages.
This follows after the minister stated in a recent interview, that non-value-adding intermediaries are causing supply chain delays that add, on average, three stages of load-shedding.*
The prevalence of non-value adding intermediaries was to be expected given Eskom’s history of prioritising BEE-based and local content-based preferential procurement, which prioritises the interests of intermediaries above those of electricity users. Sakeliga’s report explains the non-value adding intermediary phenomenon and how to avoid it by building on our victory last year in the Constitutional Court regarding preferential procurement.
In sharp contrast to the historic misconception that state entities are bound to invariably implement preferential procurement policies, neither the Constitution nor the PPPFA imposes such a requirement. The apparent “requirement,” in other words, is a political, not a legal one.