Conversations with leaders
Cabinet Minister remembers Madiba
Energy Minister Jeff Radebe reflects on the valuable lessons he learnt from former President Nelson Mandela
Energy Minister Jeff Radebe, the longestserving Cabinet Minister in the South African government, has shared with PSM some of the lessons he learned from former President Nelson Mandela.
Minister Radebe served as the first Minister of Public Works in the democratic South Africa, working alongside Madiba to give life to his vision of a better country for all.
Mandela, South Africa’s first black President, should be remembered as a leader who did everything with passion, said Minister Radebe.
One of the things that Minister Radebe learnt from him was that to be a leader of the people you must have passion for the resolution of their challenges.
He also taught him that enemies could be won over.
“I learnt from him that I must look at the common good of the country, particularly its future. President Mandela exemplified this through his continued work in championing the welfare of children even beyond his retirement,” said Minister Radebe.
He said the ideals of a non-racial society were upheld through all the years of President Mandela’s struggle for freedom and democracy. Minister Radebe added that from this he learnt that belief in our new nation must not waver and that we must all strive to triumph over the devastations of our past.
One important fact is that Tata Madiba and most of his generation were released from prison very late in their lives. Consequently, they could not finish their historic mission to liberate and transform the socio-economic conditions of the people.
Minister Radebe said if it was possible for those leaders who are no longer with us today to look down on South Africa,“they would expect us to continue on the trajectory of the historic mission of the African National Congress, the Freedom Charter and the promise of our Constitution to usher in a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, equal and prosperous society.
“Ultimately, we owe it not only to Madiba and his generation, but equally and importantly to ourselves, our children and all posterity.The best tribute to Madiba is carving our own individual and collective walks to freedom through effecting a radical socioeconomic transformation of society,” said Minister Radebe.
He added it was an honour not only to be appointed by the iconic leader that President Mandela was, but also to serve citizens in such historic times, when the journey of reversing the legacy of apartheid and colonialism was just beginning.
“President Mandela was fully aware of the urgent need to transform South Africa to reflect the ideals of the freedom and democracy that we fought for,” he said, adding that today this freedom is reflected in our Constitution and the Freedom Charter.
“We who served under him shared this passion, as all of us had not only lived under apartheid, but also fought for its demise. It was an age of triumph of good over evil. We did not need any motivation but to see that the aspirations of our people became their lived experience,” Minister Radebe shared.
He recalled that the evident inequality, unemployment and poverty among South Africans defined by race, class and gender inspired Tata Madiba’s administration to fulfil the mandate it derived from the people through the national democratic elections.
“President Mandela gave us the mandate to lead in transforming the socio-economic conditions of our people through a prudent state apparatus. We knew we had his full support and likewise he knew he had the full support of all of us in his Cabinet,” he said.
Minister Radebe said public servants can remember Tata Madiba by internalising the theme “Be the legacy”, practising the ethos of Batho Pele and upholding the various obligations instilled by the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.
“Public servants would do well to emulate Madiba’s passion to serve our people and help reverse the legacy of unemployment, poverty and inequality,” said the Minister.
Reflecting on Robben Island
Like Mandela, Minister Radebe was imprisoned for years on Robben Island by the apartheid government. He said the apartheid regime sought to destroy their morale through imprisonment.
“The small size of the cells was designed to ensure that we lost our desire to fight for our freedom and democracy. It was the same tactics applied to many of our comrades, like the banishment of Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to Brandfort,” he recalled.
“We, the younger generation, were inspired to fight alongside our heroes, such as Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and many more. My experience is that Robben Island failed in its design to discourage the struggle against apartheid as the unfolding history would later attest,” he said.
Despite the pain of being imprisoned, Minister Radebe said it
was a privilege and an honour to be bestowed with the responsibility of conducting political education on Robben Island.
In the midst of the adversity occasioned by their repression and imprisonment, he and other convicts at the time made every corner they were put into count towards the struggle for liberation.
Thuma Mina
Fast forward to 24 years into democracy and now serving as the Minister of Energy under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister Radebe said his contribution to the Thuma Mina (Send Me) campaign is to increase awareness so that South Africa becomes a nation that collectively puts its shoulder to the wheel to drive radical and comprehensive socio-economic development.
Thuma Mina is a call to action by the President: that all must take the responsibility for providing solutions to both individual and collective challenges.
“In as much as we have varied challenges, our people must know that they have a role to play in the resolution of those challenges. They should not just be recipients of development,” he added.
Minister Radebe said some of the key plans for his new portfolio include ensuring better compliance with the requirements for clean energy and contributing to international efforts to combat global warming.
“I also intend to ensure that we have higher levels of energy security. This is a complex challenge with regard to oil but we have other resources, such as an abundant supply of coal. My main aim is to emphasise an energy mix that includes coal, gas, oil, wind and solar, among others, with higher emphasis on renewal and clean energy. Very importantly, we must ensure more ownership by the previously disadvantaged so as to help bridge the inequalities engineered by apartheid,” he stated.
He added that the department must strive to ensure that energy is affordable to all economic participants as a basic driver of economic growth and development.
His department needs to ensure that energy is cheaper by diversifying production sources and allowing more new entrants into the market, he expanded.
“Cheaper energy will encourage higher investment and production returns in all other fields of eco--
nomic activity. We have a responsibility to make energy cheaper,” he said.
A priority is accelerating the production and distribution of renewal energy, including solar and wind energy.
“Recently we signed 27 agreements with independent power producers, resulting in about
R56 billion in investments. Investment in renewable energy is a challenge that if attended to maximally can lead to increased foreign direct investment and contribute to the President’s mediumterm investment targets,” he said.
Zooming into the future
With regard to the future of South Africa’s energy sector, Minister Radebe said the country is not endowed with known natural oil for liquid fuel or enough water for hydroelectricity. However, it has abundant coal and a landscape suitable for solar and wind energy.
He said the country must take advantage of the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to ensure it remains globally competitive.A major part of this transition will be smarter energy generation.
“With the right policy approach, the future of South Africa’s energy sector looks bright. For decades we have depended on coal as the basic source of electricity and imported oil as the source of liquid fuel. But now we have other sources of electricity such as solar and wind power, liquid fuels derived from coal, as well as gas,” he explained.
In the medium term, he said the department will focus on securing energy resources and energy supply, increasing household access to electricity, enhancing energy efficiency, diversifying the energy generation mix and improving the quality and security of petroleum fuels.
In terms of contributing to job creation within the sector, Minister Radebe said young people are the prime target of employment creation as they constitute the largest share of the population, as well as those who are unemployed.
He said one of the barometers of success in the energy sector must be youth entrepreneurship and youth employment creation.
“The huge potential in renewable energy and diversification holds opportunities for the youth both in terms of entrepreneurship and employment creation,” said the Minister.
His vast political experience and the lessons learnt from Madiba have taught him that all development must speak to the needs of the people and their aspirations for a better life.
“I have also learnt that well-researched solutions, benchmarked against best practice here and abroad, augurs well for sustainable development as a way of avoiding mistakes that could reasonably be foreseen,” he added.