By: Natasha Archary
Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa may feel he is not a junior, nor an “ornamental” minister, but in a recent interview with Sakina Kamwendo, he admitted he was just a “project manager.”
Ramokgopa who agreed that he didn’t have powers, and had to go to other Ministers who have the authority to make decisions to action plans, was left red-faced when Kamwendo asked what his role truly entailed.
Sakina: “But you don’t have powers Minister, so how is this going to work? Who is going to give instructions to whoever to bring about what you’d like to achieve?”
Ramokgopa: “Wherever those powers are laying, so that’s the point I’m making, wherever those powers are laying, if it’s a Cabinet decision, this Minister will make sure that it gets done.”
Sakina: “So as the Minister, you have to go to other Ministers and ask them to implement things, that you should be in charge of?”
Ramokgopa: “Absolutely. Because I’m not sitting with those original powers.”
Sakina: “So, you’re a project manager?”
Ramokgopa: “Yes. It’s true, because I’m not sitting with the executive powers.”
The interview on SABC may have left Ramokgopa feeling just a tad insecure, as the Minister defended his place in the Cabinet when speaking at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday, 09 May.
“I am not a junior minister. There is nothing in the constitution that attaches hierarchy to ministers. My presence is not ornamental.
I bring a significant amount of technical skills in addition to my political prowess.”
Ramokgopa says he is not a junior minister, although he admitted to being a project manager
But it wasn’t just Sakina who was left confused by Ramokgopa’s role in Cabinet as many Kaya 959 listeners also said they didn’t understand why he was appointed, calling his position “another government trick.”
