Mantashe must come clean about Powerships
25 April 2021
Recent revelations about the involvement of former special advisor to ex-State Security Ministers David Mahlobo and Bongani Bongo, Thabo George Mokoena, in the Karpowerships bid for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) calls into question once again the legitimacy of this as a solution to South Africa’s electricity crisis.
George Mokoena, not to be confused with Thabo Shadrack Mokoena, the Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – the implementing department of the RMIPPPP, is according to reports a 20% shareholder in Powergroup SA, which is Karpowership’s BEE partner.
The DA calls on Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe to come clean about the real basis of the Karpowership bid, and why the RMIPPPP was set up from the start to favour this solution. We demand that the records of the bid adjudication be made public, as well as the minutes of any deliberations in which the various bidders were evaluated. While we acknowledge the urgent need to secure a consistent and viable electricity supply for our country, this cannot come at the expense of our environment or our values as a country.
The BEE shareholding is highly questionable, because there is little local benefit (such as jobs or capital investment) to leasing these powerships for a 20 year period, and appears to be little more than fronting in order to line the pockets of the connected few. In comparison, other RMIPPPP projects are investing significantly in infrastructure and local manufacturing, and will result in economic development and job creation.