LIGHTS OUT… AGAIN
SOUTH Africans once again face Stage 6 load shedding.
Embattled power utility Eskom on Saturday afternoon implemented Stage 3 load shedding, but by Sunday morning at 1.30am the company had announced that they would be moving to Stage 6 after two power stations broke down.
Addressing the media on Sunday morning in Pretoria, Minister of Energy and Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said: “Please accept our sincerest apologies. With the greatest level of humility, I want to say to the country that we regret that there is a setback.”
He added that the ministry is guided by the Energy Action Plan that President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled to the country in July of 2022.
He said: “We suffered a setback on 1 February 2025, after over 300 days of consecutive supply of electricity and in uninterrupted fashion and again now. We are coming back to you while we have another bout of load shedding which has a greater intensity.”
Ramakgopa went on to say that five generation units were lost at Majuba power station which is Eskom’s second-largest power plant.
Ramakgopa rubbished claims of sabotage at the stations, saying: “I have heard several queries regarding some underhand activities. I want to say to the rest of the country; that this is a technical issue. We must not find any reason to manufacture explanations of why we are at Stage 6.
“We are hoping to get back to normal by the end of the week. There is no sabotage.”
He added that the ministry will work hard to do everything possible to curb load shedding because it also affects the country financially.
Eskom CEO Dan Marokane insisted that that power will resume by the end of this week.
He said: “All units should be online by Tuesday, with all systems recovered by the end of the week. Stage 6 load shedding is necessary to protect enough capacity to restore emergency reserves, which will likely be used extensively this coming week.”
Meanwhile, shocking revelations from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) last week exposed the helse corruption at Eskom, detailing systemic failures, procurement fraud, and collusion with state capture actors that have cost the nation billions, while highlighting the involvement of over 5 000 employees and the urgent calls for accountability
In a damning virtual briefing to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Advocate Andy Mothibi, the head of the SIU, said the unit identified 5 464 Eskom employees who failed to complete declaration of interest forms, with 334 employees found to have direct interests in companies doing business with the utility.