Cape Town – Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has issued an apology to the nation for the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding, which occurred last week due to breakdowns and delays in restoring generating units.
Ramokgopa expressed his sincere apology and said that that load shedding is unacceptable.
“I want to express our sincere and profuse apology for having taken you through a very difficult stage of intensive load shedding.
“Firstly, load shedding is unacceptable. The second part is that going to higher stages of load shedding, especially Stage 6, should not become the norm. If anything, that should constitute an extraordinary occurrence. The intensity of load shedding that goes beyond Stage 4 is something that should be unacceptable and it’s something that, to the degree that we can… we will do everything to avoid,” the minister said during a media briefing on Monday.
[WATCH] Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa apologises for the escalating stages of #loadshedding. “#Loadshedding is unacceptable, and going to higher stages like #stage6 should not be a norm.” #Eskom #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/MRePHAqcB3
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) July 17, 2023
He said that two units were expected to come back online, adding 1 305MW to the grid, and an additional 12 generating units were expected to boost the grid by 5,438MW later in the week.
Ramokgopa acknowledged that the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding, despite the improved performance of Eskom power stations over the past three weeks, indicated the ongoing vulnerability and pressure on the power grid.
“[This is] a reconfirmation of the fact that the grid remains vulnerable and susceptible to plummeting of availability of megawatts… although we have seen a significant amount of reprieve over the 21 days.
“What we have always known was that we should be able to get to a stage where we are able to build resilience, reliability of these units and also create an additional buffer so that as when these units fail… there’s sufficient reserve margin that will allow us an opportunity not to engage in any stage of load shedding and/or any intensification of load shedding,” he said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
