Gordhan to brief media as stage 4 load shedding set to continue throughout Tuesday

Eskom has confirmed that load shedding will continue throughout Tuesday, moving from Stage 2 to Stage 4 from 9am.

According to the struggling energy utility, this is due to a “shortage of capacity”.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” Eskom said in a statement.

Stage 2 #Loadshedding will continue today, 19 March until 09h00 this morning whereafter we will move to Stage 4 loadshedding. This is due to a shortage of capacity. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. @CityPowerJhb @City_Ekurhuleni @centlecutility @eThekwiniM

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 19, 2019

The utility has since announced that Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan and Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza will address the media at 10am on “the current electricity supply problems”.

Good morning you South Africa. At 10:30 Minister Pravin Gordhan and Chairman of Eskom Board Mr Jabu Mabuza will address the media on #Eskom and the current electricity supply problems. pic.twitter.com/dZt62b7msv

— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) March 19, 2019

The Citizen reported this morning that load shedding was causing massive damage to municipal infrastructure, leading to longer blackouts than scheduled.

Joburg Metro, which is the country’s biggest electricity user, is hit particularly hard, according to the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for environment and infrastructure services, Nico de Jager.

He estimated the city of Joburg’s loss of revenue during load shedding at R210 million a day.

Over and above the revenue loss, the city is coughing up tens of thousands daily while repairing infrastructure damaged by the surges of electricity which passes through the system after every bout of load shedding. He said the extent of the damage could run into millions.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Background reporting, Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni)

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