The skeletons of South Africa's new electricity minister comes out to play

Sakeliga has urged the public to be wary of the incoming power minister, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, due to his role in a massive tender controversy that cost taxpayers billions of rands during his stint as Tshwane mayor.

Ramokgopa served as mayor of Tshwane from 2010 until 2016, when the ANC lost control of the city in the 2016 South African municipal elections.

He was appointed to the president as the head of the office of investment and infrastructure after a brief spell in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

He held this job until President Cyril Ramaphosa named him as power minister in the most recent cabinet reshuffle.

Ramokgopa was entangled in a quarrel over a multibillion-rand deal given to PEU Capital Partners.

Given what transpired, it is ironic that PEU was first engaged to advise Tshwane on cost-cutting measures, according to a 2017 statement by then-Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga.

PEU quickly transitioned from advisor to service provider after being commissioned to install smart metres around the city.

Due to irregularities in the transaction, a legal challenge to the tender loomed. With that threat, Tshwane went into a termination agreement with PEU, providing R950 million to its subsidiary.

The North Gauteng High Court overturned the arrangement, ruling that all transactions between Tshwane and PEU or its subsidiaries were illegal.

Sakeliga stated that the city went into this agreement at Ramokgopa’s request, despite warnings from opposition parties and his political superiors.

The money was given back to the city.

However, Sakeliga said R630 million was still paid to PEU for “services rendered”. This is a bill that Tshwane is still grappling with.

“Ramokgopa left office as mayor amid an additional R2-billion debt burden on the municipality due to an illegal agreement for the installation and maintenance of electricity meters that he had signed off on,” Sakeliga said.

The Tswane mayoral house, which was valued R5 million during Ramokgopa’s term, had an R12 million renovation during Ramokgopa’s leadership, according to the Citizen.

The DA-led administration started an investigation into the renovations, claiming that the work done on the property did not warrant the money paid for the services performed.

Former Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga claimed that the R12 million was misappropriated by the former ANC administration for questionable upgrades.

The repairs included wall and asphalt improvements, a swimming pool, and an automatic irrigation and gate system.

Tshwane proposed approving the sale of the mayor’s residence, often known as the “house of corruption.”

The city of Tshwane announced in November 2017 that it has sold the mayor’s official house for R5.1 million.

Ramokgopa stated in a 2019 panel discussion “it will be the height of folly to deny that corruption did thrive under our watch [as the ANC], so that is the first admission”.

He confessed that the ANC had stolen from and harmed the people of the country.