Should South Africans brace fo

Should South Africans brace for more load shedding?

Eskom had said further breakdowns could leave them with no choice but to enforce load shedding once again, beyond Tuesday morning

Should South Africans brace fo

There’s no word yet from Eskom as to whether South Africans can expect another bout of load shedding being enforced anytime soon.

Until the embattled power utility states otherwise, load shedding has been suspended. Eskom enforced Stage 2 load shedding from 21:00 on Monday until 05h00 the next morning. CEO Andre de Ruyter said this was to conserve and replenish emergency reserves.

De Ruyter also says the power utility will be taking action against some of senior staff members who are underperforming.

“We are going to be taking consequence management against power station management. We are not satisfied, at all, with the performance of some of our senior executives. We are not going to be tolerating poor performance and that we will be taking appropriate action against underperforming people who do not live up to their duty, both to Eskom and to 60 million South Africans.”

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter

ALSO READ: Lights out! Stage 2 load shedding confirmed for Monday 7 February

MORE LOAD SHEDDING THIS WEEK?

Eskom had said on Monday evening that further breakdowns could leave them with no choice but to enforce load shedding once again, beyond Tuesday morning.

“Since midnight we have lost the unit each at Camden, Kusile, Duvha and Matla power stations. Furthermore, the return of a unit at Kusile and two units at Majuba power stations are delayed. Total breakdowns amount to 16 261MW while planned maintenance is 5 350MW of capacity as we continue with the reliability maintenance,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.

For now, the parastatal has urged its customers to continue using electricity sparingly by switching off all non-essential items, to ease some of the pressure off its system and avoid load shedding.

The embattled power utility implemented a bout of Stage 2 load shedding on Wednesday, 2 February, the first for the year, citing a shortage of generation capacity following breakdowns of two more generating units during the night.

ALSO READ: FULL load shedding schedules for Gauteng, Cape Town, Durban – 7 Feb