- The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is confident that the end of load shedding in South Africa is within reach.
- The minister has spun the same rhetoric for well over a year.
- Briefing the media on Sunday following an implementation of Stage 6 load shedding (blackouts) over the weekend, Ramokgopa assured the nation that government and Eskom are making long-term decisions in the best interest of the country’s power grid and economy.
- Eskom implemented stage three loadshedding at the begining of the month after ten months of uninterupted power supply. Read more
“At all material points, we will never make expedient decisions at the cost of the grid, because the consequences will be too ghastly to contemplate. That is why it is important that to the degree that we need to initiate load shedding, understanding fully well that is going to deliver a message of an entity and a ministry that essentially is dropping the ball.
“But we are making the point that we will not make expedient decisions. We’ll make decisions that are in the interest of the of the grid and in the long term, in the interest of the South African economy,” the Minister explained.
In their most recent financial reporting, Eskom recorded a record R55 billion loss. Lax controls, theft, fraud and corruption are still rife at the utility running into billions which includes a pre-paid voucher scam which Eskom says it cannot confirm the amount lost and extent of problem. Municipal debt has ballooned from R58 billion to over R100 billion and likely to reach R120 billion by next month. Debt stock is now more than R397 billion and R90 billion paid in interest to service debt. Tax payers money is already nearing R495 billion in Eskom bailouts. Read more
“I want to say to the rest of the country, you are going through pain, we understand your anger, we feel your pain, we can hear your cries. We will resolve this problem,” Ramokgopa said.
In response to concerns about Eskom’s operational decisions, Ramokgopa dismissed any suggestions of underhanded dealings, reiterating that all efforts are aimed at long-term sustainability.
“We’re not going to do shortcuts in relation to our obligations to the environment. We are committed to ensuring that South Africa’s energy supply is both stable and sustainable. As part of this journey to ensure that we eliminate load shedding, we’re going to ensure that we keep to our obligations in relation to the environment,” he said.
Dishonesty
At the start of the weekend South Africa’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, confirmed that loadshedding remains suspended, supported by a stable power system and adequate emergency reserves. A total of 3 410MW will be returned to service before the evening peak on Monday, 24 February 2025, to further stabilise the grid. Read original press release here: Power Alert 1 – 21 February 2025.
Respected energy analyst Anton Eberhard noted that over the past week Eskom has been running its expensive peaker/emergency diesel fired gas turbines flat out commenting on X that ‘the system is tight again’ and more ‘loadshedding / power cuts may be imminent’. Eberhard is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the University of Cape Town where he leads the advisory board at the Power Futures Lab at the Graduate School of Business.
Eskom power generation mix 14 Feb 2025 – 20 Feb 2025. Image credit: Eskom
The country’s main opposition party in the Government of National Unity, the Democratic Allliance (DA) has berated Eskom’s silence on the reasons behind the recent spate of blackouts and continues to speak to a lack of transparency.
“While South Africans have been repeatedly told that loadshedding is behind us, this has been far from true. A new term “load reduction” has been introduced – but we must call it as we see it. We still live in blackouts, and we continue to pay more for less and less electricity. With the looming tax hikes stalled due to DA intervention, the DA calls on Government to fast-track electricity reforms, before our economy regresses,” the DA said in a statement.
The following measures must be treated as of national importance said the DA:
- Recovering the billions in municipal debt owed to Eskom;
- Fully separating Eskom’s power generation and transmission divisions; and
- Creating private sector competition by breaking Eskom’s power generation function into smaller companies for privatisation.
The current spate of blackouts is expected to last until the end of the week.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
