Ramokgopa blames SA's energy crisis for ANC’s dismal election performance

JOHANNESBURG - Minister of Electricity and African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC) member, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has blamed the party’s dismal showing at the polls on the country’s energy crisis.

Two weeks after the 29 May polls, some political parties are performing postmortem analyses on the election outcomes.

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While the ANC is currently locked in last-minute talks about a power-sharing deal, Ramokgopa has also reflected on what he believes is behind a drop in the ANC’s support.

After the scurry of forming a new government, the ANC NEC is still expected to hold a three-day conference to unpack the national and provincial election results.

Without pre-empting what else is expected to come out of it, Ramokgopa said he believes the decommissioning of the Komati coal power plant in Mpumalanga cost the ANC votes.

"As a result of that, constituencies and communities drawing from the experiences of Komati, the most painful experience, they have decided to desert this movement and go somewhere else so that they are able to secure their future. We have not really begun to understand what is that political economy of energy."

Mpumalanga is the heart of the coal industry, producing at least 80% of the country’s power supply.

The ANC-led government came under fire last year when Eskom shut down the Komati power plant.