Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has outlined his department’s priority of electrifying households that still remain without power, 31 years into the country’s democratic dispensation.
Following the tabling of his department’s budget vote in Parliament yesterday, Ramokgopa says unelectrified households, particularly in areas including informal settlements, deep rural areas and newly formed housing developments, now account for 1.6 million households.
He says that this had to do with the compromised state of reticulation and distribution infrastructure in municipalities.
VIDEO | 1.6 million households unelectrified in SA:
“We’ve chosen that we will not fold our arms, we’re going to make an intervention working including in Eskom areas to ensure that we refurbish, replenish, maintain those assets, get people back online, so that they’ve got uninterrupted power supply for 24 hours,” says Ramokgopa.
The Electricity Minister adds that they want to ensure that they are able to provide dedicated capacity to municipalities, maintaining that their greatest challenge is that municipalities do not have qualified engineers.
The Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr. @Kgosientsho_R and Deputy Minister @SamGrahamMare will this afternoon be tabling the Budget Vote for the Department of Electricity and Energy in the National Assembly at 16h30
📍Good Hope Chambers, Parliament pic.twitter.com/3beP3yvWOH
— Department of Electricity and Energy (@DOEE_ZA) July 10, 2025
