Celebrate with smiles and power

At last, some good news. According to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, “we will have a festive season with the lights on”. It’s been a good week as load shedding has been suspended until this afternoon.

The bad news, though, is that Ramokgopa cannot guarantee how long the suspension of load shedding will last, and he issued a stern warning that the power supply will be tested in the new year.

ALSO READ: ‘System is healthy’ – Ramokgopa says SA not experiencing load shedding due to ‘aggressive’ maintenance

In other words, enjoy your turkey if you have been able to stretch your tight budget, but don’t leave too many leftovers to be warmed up in the microwave for the days after the feast.

But it’s a win for now, and oh, how resilient South Africans like to celebrate the small things in life, despite the hardships.

Ramokgopa explained the “aggressive maintenance” due to less demand of electricity from businesses over the holidays, saying: “It is important that during this period of low demand, we are able to take this opportunity to ensure we accelerate maintenance.

ALSO READ: SA should brace for higher stages of load shedding going into 2024

“We are going to benefit exceptionally well as a country for us to continue on this path of planned maintenance.”

He added: “That’s why you are not seeing load shedding.

We are working behind the scenes, we are aggressive on the maintenance and the system is performing, but the point I want to make is the consistency, because time and time again, I come to the nation and said there is a cluster of units that have failed.

That is what we are trying to avert and of course I can’t guarantee that won’t happen. I think it’s important I make that statement, but the outlook really in the short term, between now and the two weeks, looks upbeat.

“We really want to ensure that the lights remain on.” Here’s hoping for a festive period, filled with laughter and power.

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