Delays in processing the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which came to light last week, are appalling.
the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which came to light last week, are appalling. Due to apparent administrative bungling, the bill has not been properly tabled at parliament by the department of mineral resources & energy, so it has not started the process through committees to become law. The bill was approved by cabinet in March, and the delays are inexplicable and unacceptable.
There are now considerable risks that the bill will not be made law before the end of the year, and even possibly before elections next year. While a new bill was properly tabled last week as soon as the problems come to light, it was improperly submitted in April. Had it been done correctly, we would be much further down the road to solving the electricity crisis.
The mineral resources & energy committee in parliament already has a full agenda, making it difficult to process the bill through required public consultations in time for the year-end break. While the DMRE did not submit the bill properly, it is also inexplicable why parliament did not raise the alarm earlier. It leaves me feeling like neither are taking the electricity crisis seriously enough.
Of course, there are many in government that will be just as frustrated and disappointed as I am at the delays, including those in. But for business to continue to invest its energy into partnering with government to resolve the crisis, we need confidence that such bungles will not happen. We need to see the institution of government holding people accountable when agreed actions are not taken, just as we would see in business.
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