Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa says everything is being done to ensure that the severity and frequency of load shedding are reduced in the immediate term and brought to an eventual end.
Ramaphosa told MPs on Thursday that the minister of electricity was responsible for driving the various actions being coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee to end load shedding as a matter of urgency.
“The minister is overseeing the full and speedy implementation of the Energy Action Plan to ensure that the severity and frequency of load shedding is reduced in the immediate term, and brought to an end within the shortest possible time, the president said.
Eskom implemented stage 6 load shedding from Sunday, 7 May, “until further notice”.
The power utility said this was due to the failure of additional generating units and the delay in returning several units to service.
“This is anticipated to persist throughout the week. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as any significant changes occur,” it said.
Following Ramokgopa’s appointment, the President highlighted that the minister had conducted a diagnostic assessment of Eskom’s installed generation capacity, resulting in the identification of a set of critical interventions to maximise the energy availability factor of the generation fleet.
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The Ministry of Electricity engaged a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including industry, labour, original equipment manufacturers and the diplomatic community, who have all pledged their support for strategic interventions to reduce the intensity and frequency of load shedding.
Responding to a question on what the government was doing to tackle the alleged corruption at Eskom, Ramaphosa said that no evidence had been presented to him in this regard.
“I have not been presented with any evidence of members of the Cabinet or other senior government officials alleged to be involved in corruption at Eskom.
“Anyone who does have such evidence should provide that information to the relevant authorities so that a thorough investigation of all credible allegations may be conducted,” he said.
The President told Members of Parliament that there are relevant institutions, whose job it is to investigate these matters, as they have the legal mandate, personnel and capacity to do so.
He said that significant progress has been made by law enforcement agencies, Eskom and the relevant government departments in addressing crime and corruption at the entity.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
