Cape Town – ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula is optimistic that load shedding will be eliminated by December.
This is despite the Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa saying recently that it is impossible to end the country’s electricity crisis by the end of the year.
“I would want to sit here and tell the country that load shedding will end tomorrow, unfortunately, that’s not possible.
“It is also not technically possible to end load shedding by the end of the 2023 calendar year, and that’s why we are at pains to illustrate the kind of steps that we are taking to ensure it is not as severe and keep the economy going,” The Citizen quoted Ramakgopa as saying in April.
But speaking during an interview with eNCA, Mbalula remained confident that load shedding will be resolved decisively by the end of the year.
“I know from where I’m sitting [and] from the work that is being done by government and ministers and so on [that] before the end of the year, load shedding should be something of the past…
“I can assure that load shedding will be reversed and it will be dealt with decisively,” Mbalula said.
“It’s going to be a difficult winter,” Calib Cassim, the Eskom’s interim CEO told a news briefing in Johannesburg.
A total “blackout is unlikely,” he said, allaying fears of South Africans, as the southern hemisphere winter which start in June, sends energy demands soaring.
Winter demand for power is expected to surge to around 33 000 megawatts but Eskom is only able to produce 26 000 megawatts.
“This is going to be a very, very tight winter in terms of supply and demand,” said Segomoco Scheppers, who is the Eskom executive responsible for transmission.
“The scenarios of the winter outlook indicate load shedding could intensify,” added Scheppers.
South Africa’s power crisis has deepened over the past year.
To manage the shortfall, Eskom imposes daily power cuts. They have worsened, with people forced to endure blackouts of up to 12 hours a day on some days.
The shortages are blamed on insufficient investments in the country’s ageing or poorly designed coal-fired power plants, corruption, crime and sabotage.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
