DA alleges Eskom has been quietly warning load shedding is almost back

The DA said in a statement on Thursday that it had received “reliable information” that Eskom has been warning municipalities that load shedding would soon be upon the country again.

MP Natasha Mazzone said the parastatal had “warned municipalities about the strong possibility of rolling blackouts during the months of September and October”.

There has been no official statement from Eskom on the matter, however, nor a response to the DA.

“In the interests of transparency and informing the people of South Africa and businesses”, the DA had written to Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza to seek clarity about any potential rolling blackouts.

“The utility has continuously failed in its mandate to deliver reliable and sustained provision of electricity and it seems it is yet again set to fail millions of South Africans and the country’s already weak economy, by not generating enough energy.

“This will have a devastating effect on the lives of people and will bring economic activity in these municipalities to a halt.

“Eskom has time and again landed our country in deep trouble. Experts estimate that each stage of rolling blackouts, costs the country R1 billion per stage, per day.”

South Africa could not afford another recurrence of economically crippling rolling blackouts, Mazzone said.

“The impact of rolling blackouts which made an unwelcome appearance earlier this year, was a primary contributor to a 3.2% contraction of the economy in the first quarter – the largest contraction in 10-years.”

She alleged that the ANC government had no “lasting plans to fix the broken power entity which has been mired by decades of mismanagement and corruption”.

“Furthermore, this new threat of impending blackouts in municipalities makes it clear that the much talked-about recovery plans have amounted to nothing.

“The DA has at all times maintained that Eskom’s anticompetitive throttlehold on electricity production and distribution must be broken.”

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.