Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe are opposing legal action by the Green Connection and the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (Safcei) calling for them to bring Section 6 of the National Energy Act into operation to enact legally binding and inclusive energy planning.
The civic groups made their court application in January, seeking to force Ramaphosa and Mantashe to enact Section 6 of the act which requires the minister to develop an integrated energy plan (IEP) and review it on an annual basis.
The groups believe that the lack of proper, updated energy planning is at the root of the country’s current energy problems and are seeking an order to compel the minister and the president to bring Section 6 into force.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy confirmed that it instructed its legal representatives to oppose the matter and said the minister would respond to the allegations contained and relief sought in the course of the litigation.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “The papers have been filed to oppose the application. However, we are not going to comment any further until all the issues around the matter are dealt with in court.”
Green Connection advocacy officer Kholwani Simelane said the purpose of the IEP, developed under Section 6 of the act, was to integrate economic, environmental, political and social interests and set the context in which energy-related decisions should be made.
Without Section 6 in operation, the civic groups said, a proper IEP was not possible. Section 6 of the act of 2008 was passed by Parliament but never brought into operation and thus, since 2008, Simelane said, decision-makers had been carrying out energy planning without a proper legal framework.
Simelane said that it was through this lack of an appropriate legal framework that leaders attempted to sneak in outdated technologies such as nuclear, oil and gas, fracking, and new coal power solutions.
Safcei executive director Francesca de Gasparis said a clear plan would ensure that when new energy was being procured it would be affordable, environmentally friendly, easily accessible and part of a just energy transition.