In South Africa, we need to be led by brave leaders. Our liberation struggle was abandoned halfway to its victory. Today, our leaders are timid and afraid to fight for their people's needs.
To quote renowned Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”
It is said that Pope Francis’s experiences of poverty while growing up has shaped his views. He believes that economic injustice is at the heart of world conflicts. The cause of world conflicts is driven by politics through economic injustice and human suffering.
To quote renowned Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”
How do laws and acts affect the lives of ordinary South Africans? What is the impact of bills, laws and acts of Parliament to South African citizens. Who has the right to make laws or change any law?
Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill (B23-2023)
The Bill, according to Parliament website, states:
– to amend the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006, so as to delete, amend, and insert certain definitions; to provide for the application of the Act;
– to provide for the National Energy Regulator to consider applications for licences and the issue of licenses; to provide for revocation and de-registration of licences;
– to provide for additional electricity, new generation capacity and electricity infrastructure;
– to provide for the establishment, duties, powers and functions of the Transmission System Operator and transitional measures;
– to provide for an open market platform that allows for competitive electricity trading;
– to assign the duties, powers and functions of the Transmission System Operator to the National Transmission Company South Africa;
– to provide for delegation and assignment;
– to provide for offences and penalties;
– and to provide for matters connected therewith.
The amendment act is a new approach towards liberalising the energy market in South Africa. The Act seeks to open up the market for more Independent Private Power (IPP) generators and suppliers of electricity.
If the Act successfully passes through Parliament, it will enable new licensed IPP companies to enter the market and trade independently of Eskom or the state.
These new licensees will have rights to generate electricity and sell it on the open market without having to sell only to Eskom. They will generate electricity, and find their own customers, and sell to them directly and operate as IPP and Suppliers (IPPS) in the open market.
And although Cabinet Ministers approved the Bill in March 2023 - to be tabled in Parliament and undergo rigorous steps towards final adoption of the Bill - it sat gathering dust until August as Cabinet forgot to table it.
For the Bill to be passed successfully, it needs to go through the Portfolio Committee, the National Assembly, the Select Committee, the National Council of Provinces and Sent for Assent; signed into law.
However, the Bill was only introduced to Parliament on August 28. So it has a bit of mileage to undergo before assented, and signed into law.
The process followed to table the Bill is also fraught with risks and procedural challenges. There is speculation that the Bill might be scrapped altogether if it does not successfully pass through Parliament and be signed into law by the President before the upcoming elections in 2024, which take place in the first week of May 2024.
All Bills tabled for Parliament are only valid up until the upcoming elections. Once a new election takes place, all the Bills that were before Parliament in the past five years, which were not successful, get scrapped.
New Bills will only be introduced to Parliament after the elections of a new political leadership in the country. And a new season for Parliament to debate new bills and amendments of laws starts afresh. It takes months and years or more for Bills to be successfully lobbied through Parliament. This cycle of opening and closing the window for new Bills and Amendments runs every five years. All successful new bills and amendments get adopted into law and are used as part of the governing system in South Africa.
There is very little time left before Parliament closes for Constituency work, and end of the year is rapidly approaching.
So, the Bill is on a very rocky path. Chances of its success are slim, as clearly deployed cadres slept on the job.
I suspect that a bullying tactic might be used eventually to twist Parliament's arm in fast tracking the Electricity Amendment Bill - in the process, omitting to follow due process.
But what is even more confusing is that the Electricity Amendment Bill is sponsored by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, who has been vocal about retaining it to being at the centre of electricity security and generation. Yet, the Bill seeks to destroy the state monopoly on energy and introduce privatisation of the energy sector.
There is another bill, called the Energy Sovereignty Bill, still in draft works to be tabled by the Electricity Minister in the Presidency, Dr Sputla Ramokgopha.
The Energy Sovereignty Bill, according to a reliable source, is the opposite to what is currently contested in the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill. The Bill seeks to strengthen the state's role in guaranteeing energy sovereignty.
For the majority of South Africans, energy sovereignty trumps any attempts at liberalisation of the local energy market. We cannot allow privatisation to lead such a critical sector such as energy.
There is a place for market liberalisation. For example, in the innovation, commercial and retail industry and many other Industries etc. But, privatisation of the energy sector is not a wise state policy. In Europe, America and Asia, the state controls the energy sector.
However, the Cabinet, for all its pomp and ceremony and the power and resources at its disposal, again dropped the ball on this bill.
Furthermore, these two energy Bills are going to receive major opposition from across the spectrum. The Bills are also pursuing two diametrically opposite interests. One seeks to liberalise the energy market. The other seeks to strengthen sovereignty control over the energy sector.
Why is the government not working together on one Bill and running a single legislative process rather than competing with each other in tabling contradicting Bills? After all, the Ministers responsible for electricity and energy in South Africa are members of the ruling party, the ANC.
What stops them from sitting together and planning jointly and working together on changing the laws and introducing new laws that would improve the country’s energy security and end load shedding crisis?
To end economic injustice, we need our Parliament to unite and pass laws that will benefit our people, laws that will grow and develop our economy and improve the living conditions of our people, making this a great country better than ever before in history.
Crown Prince Adil Nchabeleng is President of Transform RSA and an Independent Energy Expert.
* The views in this column are independent of Business Report and Independent Media.
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