Gwede Mantashe Slammed for Accepting Minister of the Year Award Amid Loadshedding Crisis

• Energy and Minerals minister Gwede Mantashe was slammed for accepting a prestigious award recently
• He was the recipient of the African Petroleum Minister of the Year award while the country experienced Stage 6 loadshedding
• ActionSA Leader Herman Mashaba was among those angered by Mantashe’s acceptance of the award

JOHANNESBURG - Energy and Minerals minister Gwede Mantashe came under fire for accepting an award as the country battled with Stage 6 loadshedding.

Mantashe was the recipient of the African Petroleum Minister of the Year award which ruffled many feathers. Taking to Twitter, Mantashe shared a video of the awards ceremony along with the caption saying:

“This [the award] is in recognition of leadership and contribution to the sector.”

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ActionSA Leader Herman Mashaba was among those angered by Mantashe’s acceptance of the award and slammed the minister.

Mashaba said there is no hope that loadshedding will end soon and blamed the African National Congress (ANC) for the on-going blackouts. He said the country is on the brink of Stage 7 loadshedding, TimesLIVE reported.

The ActionSA leader said the ANC and Eskom have known for years that urgent action was needed to protect the country’s energy security. He added that the ANC has failed to hold its members accountable for “criminal” neglect.

Mashaba also labelled the ruling party as a criminal organisation masquerading as a political party. The politician was not the only person to ridicule the award, with many citizens fuming.

Here’s what Mzansi had to say:

@SocietyNews said:

“At times, to show leadership, you ought to turn down these undeserved awards...and ask that they award them to deserving ministers.”

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@neo_mda commented:

“That time we’re hovering over STAGE 10 loadshedding.”

@edrishlongwane wrote:

“The name of the award should be changed to Oleaginous Minister of the Year!”

@StickWalker posted:

“One can only assume this is intended as satire? Surely?”

@Just_J_SA added:

“The jokes write themselves. How many refineries did SA close this year? And won an award?”

Eskom announces Stage 5 loadshedding indefinitely, SA tired of excuses: "Enough with your lies"

Briefly News also reported that Eskom has ramped up loadshedding to Stage 5 until further notice. Previous plans to start implementing Stage 2 on Sunday, 11 December were changed due to further breakdowns of generating units at several power stations.

"Due to unusually high demand and the breakdown of a generating unit each at Hendrina, Kendal and Kriel power stations, loadshedding has unfortunately been escalated to Stage 5 until further notice."

The power utility company added that one unit at Koeberg was taken offline for scheduled maintenance and refuelling, reported TimesLIVE.

Source: Briefly News