Newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa believes government will be ambitious in its plans to stop loadshedding, but he is not yet ready to say when that is expected to happen.

"Loadshedding, and I want to emphasise [this] on national TV we are going to resolve it… [but] it is highly irresponsible to just shoot from the hip and say this date, that date," Ramokgopa said in an interview with the SABC on Thursday evening.

SA experienced over 200 days of loadshedding last year, and a continuous stretch of 68 days this year, thus far. 

Ramokgopa said he would come back to "the people of the country" with an answer after working with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, other ministers in the Cabinet, municipalities and business.

In January, Mantashe told eNCA that it would take between six to 12 months. Four days later Gondongwana told Reuters that in "12-18 months we will be able to say loadshedding is a thing of the past".

When asked by host Samkele Maseko if he would resolve loadshedding before the 2024 general elections, or face the ANC accusing him of "failing", Ramokgopa said that he was not going to be "expedient".

"We are going to be ambitious, [but] we are going to be realistic. Some of things I will be saying to the general public will be unpalatable. I am sure everyone listening to you wants me to say 'on X date loadshedding will be done'. I am saying give me an opportunity … we will come back to you."

When asked about his relationship with those key ministers, and debate around whether there was a need for his new ministry, Ramokgopa said he didn't want to be "drawn into that political conversation".

"I already had that conversation with my peers, and there is an appreciation that there must be a singular laser focus on the resolution of this problem. "

Corruption

Former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told eNCA in an interview in February that he had told a Cabinet member about high-end politicians and sabotage at Eskom. Gordhan later confirmed to Newzroom Afrika that he was the minister De Ruyter spoke to about the corruption, but that the former CEO never presented any evidence.

Ramokgopa said in Thursday's interview that he "neither has the capacity nor the mandate to address the issues of corruption", but that law enforcement agencies "must come to the party".

"I can't speak of corruption in aggregate terms … I am sure this corruption has multiple manifestations when you move from one plant to the other, manifestations across the value chain and it takes different forms.

"So I can't sit here and say there is corruption, because the last thing I want to do is to come into this space and when I go to the plants, accuse the many hard-working, professional, committed patriots that are working for Eskom."

He said he would go there with Gordhan to re-affirm their support of the staff and ask them what problems they were facing.

"And in the course of that, all of these things will come to the surface.

"I think it is very defeatist to enter into the space and the first statement I make is 'people are corrupt.'"