Stage 8 load shedding could be a reality if Eskom, unions don’t reach a deal

South Africans will be waiting with bated breath to see whether trade unions and Eskom will reach an agreement to solve the ongoing labour dispute.

The illegal strike has plunged the country further into outages with the princes of darkness saying it has no option but to implement stage 6 load shedding.

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The rolling blackouts have angered and frustrated South Africans with reports emerging that the country is just 2,000 megawatts away from stage 8 load shedding.

Eskom said stage 8 would be implemented if there’s a shortage of 8,000 megawatts on the national grid.

“From where we are now at stage 6, we are 2, 000 megawatts away from stage 8″, the power utility said.

The dreaded stage 8 doubles the frequency of stage 4, meaning Eskom will shed 8,000MW and residents will be in the dark up to six times a day, or 12 hours depending on the schedule.

The parastatal is expected to meet with labour unions the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Friday to forge a way forward.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says while some employees have returned to work, there are still high levels of stay-aways.

“The high levels of staff absenteeism and intimidation of working employees in some of the power stations are still rife. This has made it difficult to conduct routine maintenance and other operational requirements, which will further impact the reliability of generation units.”

This has led to a slow recovery process leaving the national grid strained and vulnerable.

He says due to the unlawful and unprotected strike, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants, Eskom is still unable to return some generators to service.

“Eskom is compelled to take this unprecedented step to conserve emergency generation capacity to safeguard the power system. 

“There remains a risk that the stage of load shedding may have to change at any time, depending on the state of the plant.”

On Thursday the unions were angered by reports that they had rejected a revised wage from the embattled power utility.

It said the report was false and misleading and does not represent the position of all unions.

“Numsa and Num will be engaging Eskom in the Central Bargaining Forum on Friday 1 July regarding the proposal which as Eskom has tabled,” said the unions in a joint statement.

In the meantime, South Africans will have to bear the excruciating pain of the rolling blackouts with Eskom saying a minimum of stage 4 load shedding will be required continuously over the weekend.

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