Steenhuisen slams Ramaphosa 'double standards' over deputy minister axing
DA leader and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen has strongly rebuked President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing him of 'double standards' for axing deputy minister Andrew Whitfield, while ANC ministers 'lying to parliament' and 'accused of state capture' remained untouchable.
Speaking during a debate on the vote on the division of revenue bill in the National Assembly, a visibly irate Steenhuisen suggested to MPs that Whitfield had been removed from his job as deputy trade and industry minister for raising awkward questions about the appointment of "dodgy" candidates to the board of the Industrial Development Corporation, and the debacle over the awarding of lotto licences to a politically connected consortium.
The Presidency stunned on Thursday morning when it announced that Ramaphosa had invoked section 93 of the constitution to remove Whitfield from his position.
Ramaphosa did not disclose his reasons for axing Whitfield, but government sources with intimate knowledge of the matter said it was related to his insubordination over his travelling to Washington at the height of stormy relations between South Africa and the US earlier this year as part of a DA delegation, without the president's approval.
But taking MPs into his confidence on the issue, Steenhuisen told parliament that Whitfield's repeated written requests to travel were ignored and not responded to by Ramaphosa.
'The facts of this matter contradict this flimsy reasoning. In fact, on the 12 of February, deputy minister Whitfield had written to the president requesting permission to travel,' Steenhuisen said.
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- Mail & Guardian
Abandoned coal mines could power South Africa's solar future
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Many of those are now considered Given the number of abandoned mines, South Africa would have been featured more prominently in GEM's report, 'but there's been a On top of that, South Africa has 153 surface coal mines currently in operation — the seventh-most in the world. 'When those operations close, either because they've exhausted the life of the mine or for other retirement commitments, that opens the possibility for alternative uses,' Tate said. Given the problem of hundreds of derelict mines and the world-class solar potential in South Africa, this is a 'potential win-win', he argued. 'These projects spare local communities land-use conflicts, and put people to work preparing the old sites and installing the solar. With the right incentives, solar developers could create jobs, clean up the mess at derelict mines, and provide the next generation of power.' 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'The earlier closures happened, the harder it is for developers to trace ownership tenures and infrastructural changes that could impede future repurposing, though it is still possible to scrutinise project viability on a site-by-site basis,' the report said. Since 2020, the coal industry's decline has closed more than 700 underground and surface operations. 'With phaseouts in motion, government climate goals, and economic unviability, coal mine closures will keep mounting in the years ahead,' the report noted. Presently, 3 800 coal mines produce 95% of the world's coal. With national commitments to phase out coal in 33 countries, the industry will leave behind hundreds of abandoned mines — and eventually thousands 'once mega producers China and India chip away at the industry'. 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The South African
3 hours ago
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Elon Musk is coming for your hashtags on X
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