President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the media during a press briefing at Megawatt Park Headquarters on 11 December 2019, in Johannesburg. Picture: Gallo Images/Sowetan/Sebabatso Mosamo
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Eskom has piled on the misery after announcing that it has implemented stage 6 load shedding from Sunday morning from stage 5.
“Following the tripping of a generation unit each at Kusile and Kriel power stations, Stage 6 load shedding was implemented effective 04:16. Eskom appeals to the public to help conserve electricity.”
Eskom previously implemented stage 6 in July citing the lack in generation capacity which depended on a variety of factors including the return of the striking workforce who are needed to perform much-needed repairs.
Cloudy, cold weather and persistent rainfall is expected in parts of South Africa over the next few days, with warnings already issued by the South African Weather Service (Saws).
KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape are forecast to bear the brunt of heavy rain and flooding on Sunday and Monday, owed to a developing upper-air cut-off low system.
High peaks in the Western Cape could experience light snowfall on Sunday, spreading eastward overnight towards the Eastern Cape.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to touch down in South Africa on Monday, cutting his planned trip to New York short, to attend to Eskom’s worsening situation.
Stage 6 load shedding was implemented early on Sunday morning, an unexpected blow to South Africans already trying to cope with previous planned outages.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told eNCA the electricity status in the country was “alarming” to Ramaphosa, especially in light of the commitments made to the nation to fix the ongoing energy crisis and embattled power utility Eskom.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has questioned the decision of those who are thinking of electing a party that seeks to give President Cyril Ramaphosa a second term.
Malema was addressing the EFF provincial people’s assembly in Mpumalanga on Sunday. He said everything was going wrong in the province whose economy could thrive on tourism alone, yet no one cared enough to make it work.
“Nobody in his good state of mind can even think of electing Ramaphosa for second term. He has done nothing right since he became president,” said Malema.
Abdullah Boonzaaier, the son of late Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie, was gunned down in Manenberg, Cape Town on Saturday evening, in what appears to have been a gang hit.
Gruesome pictures of Boonzaaier’s bloody corpse have been circulating on social media since the murder.
Manenburg police spokesperson Captain Ian Bennett told News24 that Boonzaaier and a group of men were gambling in the middle of Beatrix Lane when they came under fire, with multiple shots hitting the gangster.
“[He] lay lifeless, face down with multiple gunshot wounds to his face. He collapsed and succumbed to his fatal injuries on the scene. The suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested,” Bennett said.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi said they were stunned by allegations of recreational doping levelled at the squad just hours before their important Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.
The SA Rugby Mag website published an article on Saturday claiming that SA Rugby was trying to legally stop a story that was to be published by a Sunday publication detailing the allegations.
“From my side it was quite disturbing, especially the timing of it, five hours before a big Test match like this,” Nienaber said.
