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The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, an urgent piece of legislation that is key to overcoming South Africa's energy crisis, has finally been tabled in Parliament nearly five months after being approved by Cabinet.
There are significant doubts that the bill, which is a crucial next step in the unbundling of Eskom and establishing a competitive electricity market, will be processed through Parliament before the end of the current administration. According to Zet Luzipo, chair of the mineral resources and energy portfolio committee, this is due to the possibly "highly contested" nature of the legislation and the number of lengthy and likely politicised public hearings that need to occur.
Legislation that is not completed before Parliament is dissolved prior to an election must be started afresh.
Luzipo told News24 last week that the bill had yet to come before his committee, which already has a full programme until the end of the year. The bill would also still need to be processed by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
"This is one of the most contested bills. When it comes to public hearings, there is no South African who will not want to be heard. From where I am sitting, I don't see how we can avoid the need for provincial public hearings … It will get very competitive in those halls. There is no one that will not throng there. Electricity is a thorny issue".
It also comes as some in the African National Congress Youth League, along with the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, and the Economic Freedom Fighters have spoken out against privatisation.
The National Energy Crisis Committee and government's energy action plan regards market liberalisation as the key to overcoming the energy shortfall of the past 14 years.
With the public hearings, the portfolio committee would have to spend at least nine weeks in the provinces doing consultation before committee deliberations.
"Nine weeks is a 'gentle' assumption. Even if it would take only nine weeks, where will the committee find nine weeks before the end of the year?" Luzipo asked.