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'There will be light at the end of this tunnel': Ramaphosa on load-shedding

Amanda Khoza Presidency reporter
President Cyril Ramaphosa speaking about load-shedding during his local government election campaign at the Tshepanang Day Care Centre in Potchefstroom on Friday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa speaking about load-shedding during his local government election campaign at the Tshepanang Day Care Centre in Potchefstroom on Friday.
Image: Amanda Khoza

While load-shedding is not a looming crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said it is something he is concerned about.

“These are matters that the management of Eskom is looking at very seriously and I believe in the management, that they will handle this and make sure that the energy challenges that we are facing are brought under control,” he said.

Addressing the media shortly after concluding his local government election campaign at the Tshepanang Day Care Centre in Potchefstroom, Ramaphosa said: “I think we will see a great deal of light at the end of this brief tunnel.”

He was responding to questions about Eskom’s decision to implement stage 2 rotational overnight load-shedding throughout the weekend and until 5am on Thursday.

Eskom announced just after 6pm on Friday that it “regrets to inform the public that stage 2 load-shedding will be extended throughout the weekend starting from 21:00 [on Friday] evening until 5am on Thursday morning.

“This load-shedding is also necessary to address other additional risks in the generation fleet. Total breakdowns amount to 14,760MW while planned maintenance is 5 ,77MW of capacity.

“While still recovering four units at Tutuka, which had experienced conveyor belt failures, the fleet suffered a cluster of boiler tube leaks within a short period of time.

“Emergency reserves have been further depleted today due to breakdowns of a generating unit each at Kusile, Komati and Hendrina power stations. The return of a generating unit at Majuba power station today provided some relief, however, this was insufficient to curb the extensive use of emergency reserves,” the electricity provider said.

TimesLIVE


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