Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says he will be accounting to the Western Cape legislature.
This follows the legislature threatening to issue a formal summons after Ramokgopa had reportedly snubbed the province’s ad-hoc committee on energy earlier last week, according to News24.
Ramokgopa said at a media briefing on Saturday: ‘We are accounting on a daily basis. I am appointed on a national level; I account to the executive and to Parliament. When I get invited to other legislatures, we go and account.’
He added: ‘I am aware that I am not the only minister. There are other ministers who apparently have been summoned by the Western Cape legislature. It is something that government and other departments will attend to in relation to whether there are rights and powers to summon a minister.’
DA Western Cape energy spokesperson, MPL Christopher Fry is quoted as saying: ‘Minister Ramakgopa’s efforts to duck accountability cannot be allowed to continue. The people of the Western Cape have a right to know what the national government is doing to resolve the energy crisis, and the Minister must be held to account if his efforts are not sufficient.’
[Image: Open Government Partnership, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86288184]