Speaker, the hon Minister Malusi Gigaba is quoted in the media as saying that he will "ensure that I put a team in my department to monitor and supervise the progress made by this project", while accompanying a media contingent at the Medupi Power Plant construction site in April. On the same visit, he also informed the media that he would regularly visit the site to inspect and ensure that everything was on track for the December 2013 deadline.
Yet parliamentary replies confirm that no one from the department has been specifically nominated to serve on a monitoring and supervision team.
The recent interdict by Hitachi against Eskom for promised penalties for faulty welds adds further uncertainty to whether Medupi will be up and running by December 2013 as promised.
Hon Speaker, Minister Gigaba is known for his empty promises of swift action but to date South Africans are still confronted with uncertainty with regard to their power supply. Minister Gigaba has vowed that heads will roll if Medupi is not on line by December. Implementation failure at Medupi is ultimately the responsibility of the Minister. I urge him to start with his own head. Thank you.