Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured residents of the Cape Winelands District that load shedding will be significantly reduced by the end of the year.
Ramaphosa said this during the Presidential Imbizo held in Paarl on Friday.
This assurance came after Eskom warned that stage 8 load shedding cannot be ruled out during the upcoming winter months.
” We are going to have a difficult winter and we are addressing the problem of load shedding and that is why I appointed a Minster of Electricity, as I said who is working on this matter day in and day out every hour of the day.
“We are going to have ups and downs with regards to load shedding because our generation units are old and they keep breaking down and they are being repaired and we keep retaining them and the renewal generation is coming into its own.
“So, while we will have a difficult winter, we will address load shedding, SABC quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
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This week, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula also echoed the same sentiments and said 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.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
