In a move that exposes a rift within the cabinet over policy, energy minister Gwede Mantashe this week pointedly snubbed a top-level meeting hosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa with European leaders to launch a European-funded green-energy initiative.
Instead of joining Ramaphosa to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Danish and Dutch prime ministers, Mantashe attended a Cosatu event in Boksburg.
Mantashe told the Sunday Times yesterday that he did not sign the MOU because he doesn’t “sign agreements I have not seen”.
Government insiders say Mantashe refused to attend the event even after receiving a call from the Presidency on Tuesday morning, leaving international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor to sign the document in his place.
This was in spite of Mantashe’s having known about the event several days before. The presidential minute, believed to have been signed by Ramaphosa and Mantashe on June 13, had given Mantashe authority to sign the agreement on the South African government’s behalf.
Mantashe has made no secret of his support for the coal lobby and for restoring Eskom’s fleet of coal-fired power stations to end load-shedding.
He confirmed to the Sunday Times that he was invited to Tuesday’s signing ceremony but refused to sign a document drafted without his input.
He said he received a call from Presidency director-general and secretary of cabinet Phindile Baleni on the morning of the event.
Mantashe said his refusal to sign does not mean that he is opposed to the development of green energy.
Instead, he skipped the event because he would have had to sign a document he had not read.
“I didn’t say I’m not available to sign. I said I don’t sign an agreement I have not seen, that’s all I said. For me that is a principle issue. You want me to sign an MOU, you give me that MOU to read and understand then I sign it,” Mantashe said.
“Leave the presidential minute; I’m told the morning of the meeting that ‘at 11am you are signing an MOU’. I ask: ‘What is the MOU? I am not signing an MOU I have not read.’”
Mantashe’s open defiance is believed to be a sign that divisions within Ramaphosa’s cabinet over the country’s energy options have reached boiling point.
The minister is a well-known proponent of fossil-energy sources, arguing that green energy is not the only solution to the country’s power crisis.
He is opposed to a fast-tracked phasing out of coal power stations, stating that such a move would destroy the economy of several towns in Mpumalanga.
Presidency insiders say Ramaphosa was left fuming by Mantashe’s actions. But Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya played down the incident, saying it was not abnormal for ministers to sign MOUs on behalf of their colleagues.
“The minute gives authorisation to sign on behalf of the government of South Africa. It doesn’t specify who the signatory is, hence the president can delegate any minister to sign on behalf of the absent minister,” Magwenya said.
I didn’t say I’m not available to sign. I said I don’t sign an agreement I have not seen, that’s all I said. For me that is a principle issue. You want me to sign an MOU, you give me that MOU to read and understand then I sign it
— Energy minister Gwede Mantashe
“The MOU was drafted by the department of mineral resources and energy and therefore the Presidency would not be able to comment about what a minister of a department knows about the work of the officials of their department.”
Ramaphosa described the visit by the prime ministers, Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, as “opportune and important” co-operation on green hydrogen, renewable energy and the just energy transition.
The three countries signed an agreement on a $1bn (about R18.8bn) green hydrogen fund.
According to the Presidency, the fund is supported by Climate Fund Managers and Invest International of the Netherlands, Sanlam, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.
The MOU on green hydrogen between South Africa and the Netherlands was signed by acting minister of electricity Mondli Gungubele, while an amended 2017 agreement with Denmark on development co-operation regarding the energy partnership programme was signed by Pandor and Danish ambassador to South Africa Tobias Rehfeld.
Energy expert professor Lwazi Ngubevana said South Africa needs all the help it can get in ensuring energy security and various partnerships are important to achieve it.
“The department of mineral resources & energy is the custodian of energy policy and planning in South Africa, and no government agreement that speaks to energy should ever be signed without its involvement, if it is being done in the best interests of the country,” Ngubevana said.
“Regional and international partnerships are key to developing and securing markets for a hydrogen economy, and therefore we should explore these. However, not having seen the actual documents, it is difficult to say whether they will be of any effect or not, and what impact they may have on South Africa’s energy future.
“What is also important is ensuring that any and all deals signed on behalf of the country do not become a burden on the South African taxpayer.
“It is also important to ensure that these agreements are a truly ‘just’ transition, that is securing jobs, developing local industry, skills, local economy, and so on. And that we do not become simply a market for international technologies or a testing ground for unproven economic models.
“These agreements have to, as a matter of principle, take all stakeholder views into account and not be driven by narrow interests, local and international.”
Mantashe’s office is believed to have known about the event — but Mantashe told those close to him that he did not agree with the contents of the documents he was supposed to sign.
A senior government official with intimate knowledge of the events said: “It’s not like [Mantashe] just went Awol. He actually took the call and said ‘I’m not coming’. So basically Gwede decided to ghost the president … and because he bailed out in the morning of the day, minister Pandor had to sign that agreement on behalf of the country.”
Mantashe said that central to his refusal to sign was that the MOU, while putting his department at the centre of the agreement, was prepared without his input.
Asked how that could happen, he said: “You are asking a question that I’m asking, so you can’t expect an answer from me. That’s what was at the centre of the issue. I am not signing an agreement I have not read.”
He said the agreement was drafted “somewhere” without his say-so and only afterwards was he called and asked to sign it.
It’s not like [Mantashe] just went Awol. He actually took the call and said ‘I’m not coming’. So basically Gwede decided to ghost the president … and because he bailed out in the morning of the day, minister Pandor had to sign that agreement on behalf of the country
— Senior government official
“You draft an agreement somewhere on your own on green energy. Maybe they made the same assumption like you and thought that I must not see it because I am opposed to it.
“They didn’t give me the MOU and therefore expressing a view on agreeing and not agreeing is actually neither here nor there. I have not seen the MOU up to today,” he said.
“I don’t make anything out of it [the process]; I just refused to sign anything I have not read.”
He said his refusal had nothing to do with whether he was for or against green energy.
“Support is a different matter. I don’t sign an agreement I have not read. Now you can’t assume support or not support unless I read it and then have a view. So, I can’t express a view on an MOU that I have not seen up to now.”
Mantashe said he was “not defiant”, but was clear when the cabinet secretary called that he would not participate.
“There was not a series of calls. One person called me, the cabinet secretary ... and I told that person that ‘listen guys you are not expecting me to sign an MOU I have not read’.”
A cabinet minister sympathetic to Mantashe, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mantashe had previously complained to the cabinet about a similar occurrence.
“It’s wrong what they are doing. And you know it’s not the first time. He has been complaining that these are people who draft things in his absence when his department would have to implement them,” the minister said.
“They are being naughty and some of them we serve with in cabinet. But he [Mantashe] knows wherever he is that he can easily ignore the MOU and not implement it if he doesn’t agree with it.”
Mantashe appeared to be suggesting that the matter had now been finalised when asked what would happen next.
“I don’t know, it is signed. That is an agreement between two countries, it is not an agreement of mine. The agreement is between the two countries. If the countries have committed themselves, that’s it, it’s a commitment of the countries and I am part of the country,” he said.
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