No end to load shedding yet – Eskom says

The parastatal gave an update on the rolling blackouts on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the ailing parastatal will share another update on Friday.

Load shedding

“Breakdowns currently amount to 15 492MW while planned maintenance is 5 076MW,” Mantshantsa said.

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Eskom has implemented continuous power cuts for more than three weeks now with no indication of when the deliberate power cuts would end.

Summer load shedding

“We are ramping up planned maintenance as we head into summer. We also find that our maintenance is not yet yielding required results. Units return to work, and then breakdown. This is due to lack of skills.”

Ramaphosa on load shedding

Oberholzer’s sentiments were reiterated by President Cyril Ramaphosa who also warned in his weekly newsletter that the deliberate power will not end anytime soon.

The president said while there was no quick fix for the deliberate power cuts, “real progress was being made”.

“Given the unpredictable performance of Eskom’s fleet of coal-fired power stations, we will not be able to eliminate load shedding in the short term. This is the unfortunate reality of our situation, which has had a long history.”

Eskom board

On Tuesday, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced a decision to restructure and reconstitute the parastatal’s board.

Gordhan said he met members of the current Eskom board whose term had expired in 2021 and was extended subject to a review.

Gordhan must go

Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called on Ramaphosa to get rid of Gordhan and consider deploying another Minister of Public Enterprises to deal with the Eskom crisis.

ALSO READ: ‘Load shedding is here to stay’ – Ramaphosa