The Democratic Alliance (DA) announced on Tuesday that it will monitor government’s progress in implementing its energy plan and hold it to account with the launch of the party’s Energy Plan Implementation Tracker.

On Monday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled several far-reaching interventions – including a doubling in the allocation for the next renewables procurement round, the scrapping of the 100 MW licence-exemption threshold for distributed generators and the proposal of a feed-in tariff for self-generating households and businesses – as part of a much-anticipated action plan for ending load-shedding.

The DA’s Tracker will follow project implementation and red tape reduction milestones and the party says it will also hold Ramaphosa accountable for commitments made to add new generation capacity.

The DA said it is ready and willing to contribute to any genuine national effort aimed at addressing the energy crisis and to get South Africa working again.

The party has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula recommending that Parliament takes immediate steps to establish a parliamentary ad-hoc committee to oversee government's National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) and the implementation of the energy plan.

Ramaphosa announced the establishment of NECOM to oversee the implementation of the energy plan.

The party wants Parliament to actively ensure accountability from the committee.

“South Africa simply cannot afford to have an energy crisis committee that will be a law unto itself, as was the case with the rogue Coronavirus Command Council. Parliament must be briefed on its terms of reference and the frequency with which it should account to the ad-hoc committee,” the DA said.

The party also wants a parliamentary ad-hoc committee to ensure that all the commitments made in the Energy Plan are implemented timeously.

“The President will have our support in the implementation of the energy plan as long as he remains committed to transparent and accountable implementation of the plan with the urgency required,” the DA said.