Image Source: ESI Africa
Local – Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has apologised to South Africans for the recent surge in load shedding and expressed optimism that the crisis will be resolved by the end of the week.
Addressing the media on Sunday, alongside Eskom executives, the Minister shared his confidence that the current Stage 6 load shedding would soon be over.
“I’m confident that by the end of the week, we should be out of this difficult situation. We are confident we’re going to go to conditions of normality. By the end of the week, there will not be load shedding.”
He explained that, despite 300 consecutive days of uninterrupted electricity supply, the country faced setbacks that led to the current challenges. The loss of five generation units at Majuba and four at Camden power stations were key contributors to the crisis.
“Let me also say at the onset that I want, on behalf of the government and the leadership of Eskom, to express our regret and convey our apology to the rest of the country.”
“The fact that we are experiencing load shedding and, secondly, that we are experiencing the intensity of load shedding that we haven’t experienced in a long time.”
“The levels of agitation, levels of anger and disappointment are understood because we are really on a journey to ensure that, indeed ultimately, we are able to eradicate load shedding.”
Moreover, the Minister emphasised that there was no evidence of sabotage, stressing that the issue was purely technical.
“I want to say to the rest of the country, the evidence that is before us is that this is a technical issue. I am making this point because we must not find any reasons to manufacture explanations of why we are at Stage 6 and point fingers somewhere else.”
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Eskom CEO Updates on Power Restoration
Meanwhile, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane provided updates on Eskom’s recovery efforts. He reported that six of the ten generation units lost overnight had already been restored, with teams working around the clock to bring the remaining units back online.
Marokane attributed the crisis to an overload on a transformer at Majuba during the startup of a unit that had been out of service for an extended period. This overload triggered a domino effect, resulting in the shutdown of additional units.
However, progress has been made. By 6 am on Sunday, two units at Majuba and one at Camden had been brought back into operation. Eskom was actively working to restore the rest.
“We have understood the exact nature of how the event came about, and we are able to isolate it overnight and start addressing it.”
“Of course, in the coming week, we will be diving deeper into ensuring that, from a system design perspective, we are able to contain such occurrences going forth. And we’ll also assess where else the rest may be lying in our fleet,” Marokane said.
