Executive Creep is ensuring Eskom holds on to the electricity grid

The DA has learnt that the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) Bill has been removed from the National Assembly (NA) Order Paper and referred back to the committee for further deliberation.

This unprecedented move follows the Bill being passed by the Portfolio Committee on Energy more than two months ago.

The DA will therefore be writing to the Speaker, Max Sisulu, requesting that he clarifies the precise reasons for this Bill to be removed from the Order Paper and whether proper parliamentary procedures were followed.

The central aim of the ISMO Bill is to remove the operations of the electricity grid from Eskom and place it in an independent entity. This is a vital step in restructuring our monopolized electricity sector and was called for as far back as 1998 in the Energy White Paper. The Bill will also bring urgently needed institutional reform of our electricity sector. 

Eskom has resisted this move for over a decade and the DA suspects that there has been ministerial interference in the processes of Parliament, in order to avoid Eskom relinquishing their control of the grid. 

The Portfolio Committee on Energy deliberated for over a year on this Bill and took all of Eskom's concerns into account. It is therefore completely deplorable that parliamentary processes can be abused in this way. It seems that a severe case of Executive Creep is at play to avoid an outcome that has been sanctioned by a multi-party parliamentary committee.

The DA will not allow the executive to abuse parliamentary procedure or for vested interests to hold back the important and urgent task of reforming our electricity sector in South Africa.

Statement issued by Lance Greyling MP, DA Shadow Minister of Energy, June 20 2013

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