Breaking News
- South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has deployed the national defence force (SANDF) to guard a number of power stations in the country that are under threat of sabotage, theft and vandalism.
- The state owned power utility, Eskom, has had a spate of major incidences of theft, questionable equipment failure and acts of sabotage which, along with poor management, maintenance and corruption, has spiralled the country into a major energy crisis where rotational load shedding is costing the economy a massive R950 million a day.
On Friday, Eskom ramped up its load-shedding schedule to stage 6 indefinitely as 8023MW of generation capacity is on planned maintenance, while another 16672MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns. Eskom generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa. Stage 6 means that the people of the country are faced with at least 6 hours of blackouts daily on a rotational basis. Read more
Speaking at the ruling party’s 55th National Conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg last night, where the ANC will vote on its leadership structure including its president, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed the SANDF has been deployed at the Majuba, Camden, Grootvlei and Tutuka coal-fired power stations.
The country was rocked this week by the resignation of Eskom’s CEO, Ander de Ruyter. In recent months, de Ruyter’s has come under public attack by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe. At a signing ceremony for legal close on 13 Bid Window 5 independent power projects last Thursday, the South African energy minister publicly attacked Eskom and de Ruyter by saying that load shedding was becoming worse than state capture because of how it directly affects citizens and takes a toll on the economy. “Eskom, by not attending to load shedding, is actively agitating for the overthrow of the state”, Mantashe said. Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
1 Comment
So why only now Mr. President? You have known for many months that sabotage has been a rampant cause of all this bloody load shedding!!!!!! Wake up and be the president who is diligent and on time. Not the president who should be THE CHIEF, but instead has only chiefs handing out orders and nobody doing the work.