Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa Voted SA Person of the Year, SA Laughed

• South Africans have recognised the Minister of Electricity as the Person of the Year for 2024
• Daily Maverick readers voted for him for his transparency, accountability and for fighting to keep Mzansi loadshedding free
• South Africans questioned the validity of this recognition as many pointed out the various electricity problems SA is facing

Tebogo Mokwena, affiliated with Briefly News, provided local and international political analysis and interviews in South Africa for Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News during his nine years of experience.

JOHANNESBURG — The Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokogopa, has been voted the Person of the Year for his fight to end loadshedding.

Ramokgopa Mzansi's favourite?

According to The South African, readers of Daily Maverick voted for him because of his transparency and accountability and because he kept loadshedding at bay. Ramokgopa predicted in March that there would be no loadshedding, and he was right.

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The country recently celebrated over 261 days of no loadshedding, and the award recognised him for giving stability and change. The publication identifies a Person of the Year as someone or a group that made the most significant and widespread positive contributions to South Africa or the world.

South Africans question the award

Not everyone believed that he deserved the award. Some on Facebook criticised him despite the absence of loadshedding since March.

Mandla Malandela said:

"Can't applaud a fish for swimming. Besides, when your portfolio was introduced during loadshedding, it was said to be a temporary thing. He's not a person of the year. There are far more people that are good for this award."

Sue Visser said:

"All while we have no electricity for days, no electricity due to load reduction."

King Jack said:

"For R100, you get 39.5 units, and you vote him SA person of the year. What a joke."

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Louis Lottering said:

"No loadshedding, but the power only went off 215 times this year."

Colin Bridger said:

"And electricity problems are still not solved."

Ramokgopa blames municipalities for load reduction

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Ramokgopa blames municipalities for implementing load reduction. Load reduction is implemented in areas with a high concentration of illegal connections.

Ramokgopa said poor capacity and mismanagement at the municipal level cause electricity shortages. This forces Eskom to implement load reduction.

Source: Briefly News