Last week, the president's special advisor said Jacob Zuma had appointed two senior ministers to persuade Eskom's CEO to sign off on renewable power purchase agreements. This week, the Presidency says that's not true.
Media reports quoted Silas Zimu, special advisor on energy to the president as having told the Windaba renewable energy conference that took place in Cape Town last week that “President Zuma has appointed the minister of environmental affairs, Edna Molewa and minister of science and technology, Naledi Pandor to persuade Eskom to sign off on the agreements”.
Silas Zimu. Source: EnergyNet
"The Presidency wishes to state that no such decision has been taken by either the president or cabinet, and wishes to indicate as well that Zimu spoke in his personal capacity. His remarks at the conference were not mandated by the Presidency or government," the statement said.
The minister in the Presidency for planning, monitoring and evaluation, Jeff Radebe speaks on behalf of cabinet. The Minister publicly expressed the support of cabinet and government to the implementation of the independent power producers procurement (IPP) programme. All concerns that have been raised with regards to the IPP programme are currently being attended to.
This follows a statement by Eskom CEO, Brian Molefe, earlier this year, in which he said the power utility would not be signing any more agreements to buy renewable power.
