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DA welcomes seeming abandonment of 17th constitutional amendment
DA regrets loss of time and resources in failed EDI plan
R25 billion in maintenance backlog still unaddressed



The DA welcomes the fact that the Regional Electricity Distribution (RED) plan and the amendment to the constitution, the 17th, to facilitate the plan, has been abandoned. Indeed, we regret the procrastination and concomitant loss of time which has exacerbated the upgrading and maintenance backlog of our electricity supply network.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), for the time being and until a new alternative can be found, supports the establishment of municipal electricity entities as provided for in the Municipal Systems Act that will over the course of time take responsibility for this function. The Zuma administration should support this initiative and provide it adequate financial support.

The cabinet is apparently considering the ANC NGC's decision to dissolve the Electricity Distribution Industry (EDI) Holdings. Given that EDI was the crucial element in the administration's plans for electricity provision to municipalities, we are left with serious questions concerning the way forward for power distribution in South Africa.

I shall be submitting questions to the Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters, asking how the administration's plans for electricity distribution have been changed in light of the possible dissolution of the EDI, scheduled for 31 March next year. I shall also be asking how the municipalities, which have very limited capacity, will be expected to handle the question of collapsing electricity infrastructure and how the Regional Electricity Distributors (REDS) are to be implemented in the wake of the possible end of the EDI.

The EDI was intended to oversee the establishment of the REDs. The REDs were intended to be established in 6 metro areas and would have overseen the provision of electricity to municipalities. Distributing municipalities and Eskom were supposed to hand over their distribution capacities to the REDs. They would have therefore been responsible for the vital task of supplying electricity to all South Africans.

There is little question that, unfortunately, the EDI has been a failure of dramatic proportions. Despite cash flow budgets for the 2008/2009 financial year of R245,3 million and cash flow budgets of R592,2 million for the 2009/2010 financial year, the EDI was unable to carry out the core tasks of its mandate.

One of these core tasks was the Approach to Distribution and Asset Management (ADAM). Cabinet mandated EDI to handle and oversee a R25 billion backlog in maintenance needs for our electricity distribution networks.

However, it would seem that the EDI did not entirely focus on restructuring our networks, which was what was needed most urgently, as the legislative environment required for this restructuring did not exist. Instead of seeking to create a legislative space for this vital restructuring to occur, the EDI focused its attentions on the mooted 17th amendment to the constitution for the operation of the REDs. This would have allowed for direct control of the REDs from central government, thus interfering with local government.

Since that time, the ANC's NGC has decided that the REDs should be relocated under the municipalities, and Parliament's portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development will be reviewing the amendment. This move away from direct intervention in local government from a central authority is to be welcomed.

Having spent most of its time on designing new mechanisms for direct centralised intervention, EDI neglected its core mandate and the implementation date for rectifying the distribution networks, May 2010, has passed us by.

However, for all of its faults, the pending decision to possibly dissolve the EDI has placed the future of electricity provision to all South Africans in jeopardy and it seems that, in a country that is no stranger to energy disruptions and problems with the grid, we are currently somewhat directionless.