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Cyril Ramaphosa laid out his response on Sunday – Photo: Cyril Ramaphosa / Twitter

‘Public must use less electricity to stop load shedding’ – Ramaphosa

Shall we turn off the lights at Phala Phala first? President Ramaphosa has challenged the public to prevent load shedding, by using less energy.

state capture ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa laid out his response on Sunday – Photo: Cyril Ramaphosa / Twitter

And here we were, thinking that load shedding was the government’s issue to solve. President Ramaphosa has laid down the gauntlet for ordinary South Africans on Monday, asking them to use less electricity and ease the pressure on Eskom’s troubled grid.

Ramaphosa tells public to use less electricity

We don’t have to tell you what an awful few weeks we’ve had with load shedding. Stage 6 cuts and perpetual darkness have crippled the country. In that time, Cyril Ramaphosa has been jet-setting abroad and holding virtual meetings. Progress is slow, and the public is at breaking point.

Though load shedding is expected to ease in the coming days, Eskom remains an unpredictable entity. With units tripping left, right, and centre, our ageing energy fleet is letting South Africa down on a regular basis – and Ramaphosa has admitted that there’s ‘no quick fix’ to this issue.

What Cyril Ramaphosa says the public can do to ‘limit load shedding’

He does have *some* solutions in the short-term, however. But the burden falls solely upon us civilians…

  • Ramaphosa has asked South Africans to ‘start using electricity sparingly’.
  • He also implored the public to report any illegal connections they come across.
  • The ANC leader went on to note that businesses, households, and governments must ‘pay Eskom what they owe’.

Load shedding ‘is not a quick fix’

Though asking the public to alter their lifestyles in order to solve an issue created by the state is contentious, President Ramaphosa believes that only collective intervention can help ease the strain on our electricity supply. Desperate times call for desperate measure, we suppose:

“Given the unpredictable performance of Eskom’s fleet of coal-fired power stations, we will not be able to eliminate load shedding in the short term. This is the unfortunate reality of our situation. We must come together as citizens to alleviate the pressure on the national grid.”

“This means using electricity sparingly, reporting illegal connections and paying for the electricity we use. Businesses, households and government departments that owe Eskom must pay up so we can undertake the critical maintenance to keep the lights on.” | Cyril Ramaphosa