Nelisiwe Magubane: created SA’s renewable energy programme

Nelisiwe Magubane, who has died at the age of 56, was one of the first black women electrical engineers in South Africa. As director-general of the department of energy, she established and drove the country’s renewable energy programme.

Magubane had a thorough understanding of the electricity supply industry and what South Africa required from it. Having been deputy DG responsible for the development of policies on clean energy, she also understood better than anyone else in government the diminishing role coal would play in this industry given growing international climate change concerns and the increasing role that would have to be played by renewables.

After becoming DG, she took over the development of the Integrated Resource Plan from Eskom, initiated and implemented the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme (REIPP) and made changes to the Electricity Regulation Act to give the private sector an equal opportunity to participate when there was a strong view in government that Eskom’s monopoly should extend to renewables.

She knew her department lacked the capacity to run a private procurement programme and approached the Treasury for assistance. This led to the establishment of the Independent Power Producer (IPP) office in 2011, headed by Treasury official Karen Breytenbach.

Magubane made the REIPP programme happen through sheer force of will. She was impatient with delays when it didn’t start and proceed according to her timelines.

She held the IPP office accountable and insisted it meet her deadlines. In return, she stood up for the office against ministers who neither understood nor supported what it was about, and protected it from political interference.

She understood the private sector needed certainty and she provided it. She gave it clear policy, a clear regulatory framework, which we have today thanks to her, and clear and prompt decision-making.

This gave the sector the confidence to invest, and it did with R190bn, much to the surprise of those who believed she was on the wrong path. The first conference on renewables in 2011 was oversubscribed. Many expected about 200 attendees at best but more than 1,000 pitched up, which was testimony to the confidence she inspired.

The first round of the procurement programme was completed smoothly, on schedule and without a hint of corruption.

The bids were received on November 4 2011 and in mid-December the first 28 preferred bidders were announced, timed by her to coincide with South Africa’s signing of COP17 which committed the country to global carbon emission targets.

She was the one who made sure energy minister Dipuo Peters signed on the dotted line in spite of last-minute dithering.

Four years later, the government pulled the plug on the REIPP programme, condemning South Africa to the crisis she’d foreseen and done so much to save it from.

By then, she had been effectively fired as DG for refusing to sign then-president Jacob Zuma’s Russian nuclear energy deal.

Magubane was born in the Ixopo area of KwaZulu-Natal on January 16 1966. After matriculating at KwaDlangezwa High School, she graduated as an electrical engineer at the then University of Natal, followed by a postgraduate diploma in business administration from the

University of West London and an MBA from Milpark Business School.

She worked for Eskom before joining the department of energy in 2000 as chief director responsible for its electrification programme. She became an Eskom director in 2018, resigning in 2021, was chair of the Strategic Fuel Fund, nonexecutive director of Anglo Gold Ashanti and chair of her own company, Matleng Energy Solutions. She was a strong champion of women’s rights and it was 70% owned by women

She is survived by her daughter Neo.