For the first time in years, South Africans have enjoyed 40 days of uninterrupted electricity. Well, as long as your local cable thief doesn’t decide to snap the wires.
The uninterrupted electricity supply – a rarity in recent times – was because of increased generating capacity of over 7 000 megawatts. So says the minister of electricity, Kgoshientsho Ramokgopa.
Netizens thought this consistent electricity supply was outrageous. After all, is Eskom not on the brink? They speculated it was a sweetener before the May 29th elections, but Ramokgopa insisted not.
“There is no correlation between this performance and the date of the 29th of May. When the team were making these efforts, little did we know that there will be this big date for the ballot for all freedom-loving South Africans,” he said, quoted by Eyewitness News.
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So much electricity!
The forty-day streak of uninterrupted electricity brought out the sarcastic side of South Africans. Many took to social media to ask what happened to that dear friend, Load Shedding.
“We haven’t seen it in a long time,” said Faith Mneno, a TikTok content creator. “We’ve got too much electricity; I’m not used to this.”
Electricity blackouts have been a regular feature of South African life since 2022, with malls even placing disclaimers cautioning that elevators may halt unexpectedly when the power goes out. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) oversaw Eskom’s decline, putting off any serious action against loadshedding until the last minute.
But on Monday, Ramokhopa said the reason why there was a consistent power supply was because there was improved generating capacity.
He also attempted to dismiss the “insinuation that Eskom is buying itself out of the loadshedding situation as a result of political pressure exerted on them by an incumbent government that wants to perform better come the 29th of May”.
This came after public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan revealed in Parliament last month that Eskom burnt just shy of R65 billion worth of diesel over the past five years.
Said Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament, Dr Mimmy Gondwe: “With this latest revelation, Minister Ramokgopa’s claim that Eskom has turned a corner is completely false because burning diesel can never be a permanent solution to the load-shedding crisis”.
@Kgosientsho_R we’ll see how you and @Eskom_SA hold up at the end of May. For now sizokumamela sikubukele. We’ll see how Eskom is going to perform at the end of May. That’s when we’ll know for sure if you’re now lying or not. For now qhubeka wenze whatever ofuna uyenza. Sobona.
— Mgolombane Sandile (@Mtika36101742) May 6, 2024
