No light yet at end of tunnel for Eskom

The country descended into darkness for the third day in a row on Tuesday, as stage 4 load-shedding continued.

Image: pexels.com

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the power cuts were very worrying and authorities were working around the clock to restore power.

The situation worsened on Saturday after Eskom lost its electricity imports from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric system in Mozambique, which contributes more than 1,000 MW to the South African grid, after a powerful cyclone.

Eskom said late on it would continue to implement rolling blackouts on Monday and Tuesday with 4,000 MW to be cut from the grid on a rotational basis.

Businesses have been disrupted, particularly small- and medium-sized companies which do not have access to backup power sources, such as diesel generators.

A manager at Tsa African Restaurant in Johannesburg, Vincent Xaba, said he had to throw away about 15kg of tripe and 10kg of pigs’ trotters worth about R8,000 after his freezer stayed without power for too long.

“We’re losing a lot of money and a lot of customers. Our meat is getting spoiled, our drinks are getting warm. Everything is in a big mess,” Xaba said inside the dark, empty restaurant.

Eskom’s power station performance has deteriorated steeply in part because of delays to critical maintenance work. Long-term neglect means there are no quick fixes.

Minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan briefed the media on Tuesday March 19 2019 on the daily load-shedding currently affecting South Africa. He attempted to assure everyone that Eskom was working hard to keep the lights on.

Load-shedding has also prompted frustration among ordinary people ahead of the general elections in May.

“We get ‘load-shed’ twice a day,” said 32-year-old Johannesburg resident Lukhanyo Ceza.

“When leaving the office, traffic lights are not working. It’s havoc; it takes 20 minutes to drive one kilometre. I can’t cook because there is no power and I am forced to get takeaways and it’s expensive.”

Eskom’s ageing power plants, that are between 37 and 50 years old, could come under further strain in the South African winter which begins in earnest in June.

“I don’t know if Eskom will fix the problem in the future, maybe I must vote EFF,” said panel-beating shop owner Charles Hutamo.

The ministry of public enterprises which oversees Eskom, said in a statement late on Sunday that the utility would be assisted to fast-track the procurement of essential goods and services required to rehabilitate and repair power-generating units.

To supplement its ageing power plants, Eskom is developing the Kusile and Medupi projects, but both are years behind schedule and tens of billions of rands over budget. The few units at Kusile and Medupi that are online, perform unreliably. – Reuters

While SA is still in the dark about the future of Eskom's load-shedding crisis, the state-owned entity battles to maintain the power supply. Here's what you need to know about Eskom's cost to South Africans.

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