Finance Dept's Masondo says energy crisis catalyst for speedy reforms in the sector
Making the comments on day one of the Operation Vulindlela conference in Rosebank on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of Finance said headway had been made in implementing key structural reforms to drive economic growth and create jobs.
An illuminated signboard on display outside the Eskom Regional Office in Braamfontein, Johannesburg during load shedding on 31 January, 2023. Picture: AFP
JOHANNESBURG - Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo has described the country’s energy crisis as a catalyst for speedy reforms in the sector.
Masondo made the comments on day one of the Operation Vulindlela conference in Rosebank on Tuesday.
He said headway had been made in implementing key structural reforms to drive economic growth and create jobs.
Operational, financial and governance failures at Eskom are among the factors that have dimmed the economy.
Unrelenting load shedding almost brought many energy-intensive industries, including mining and manufacturing to a standstill.
But Masondo said the crisis wasn’t wasted.
“Sometimes I think if we didn’t have load shedding and failure of Eskom, we probably wouldn’t have moved with speed with some of the reforms in the energy space. That’s a counterfactual because some people say we would have, but I think we would not have moved in the speed of which we did. The crisis also enabled us to push back of the vested interests in certain sectors and industries.”
In the first phase of Operation Vulindlela, almost 20 priority reforms were identified, with 95% already completed or near complete.