‘We will soon see progress’, says Ramaphosa on fixing Eskom as SA battles load shedding

President Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded for patience with Eskom as the country battles rolling blackouts due to load shedding.

Speaking to the media at the opening of the Sappi Saiccor Mill upgrade and expansion project in Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said Eskom’s generation capacity issues were being dealt with, however, it will take time.

“Eskom continues to face considerable challenges and as I said, we needed to get about 4 000 megawatts of power which are in process of being obtained as we speak now.

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“So until we get to that point, the challenges that Eskom is facing will keep hitting us and fortunately, they are not continuous, they keep recovering the units that fail from time-to-time, but the investors understand the challenges and understand where we are,” he said.

Load shedding was escalated to stage 4 this week, following a sudden tripping of three units at Kendal Power Station.

Eskom chief operating officer (COO), Jan Oberholzer, said on Monday that load shedding was likely to be implemented during summer months.

Jan Oberholzer also pointed out that Eskom’s maintenance programme was not yielding the required results, with many generating units suffering breakdowns after returning to service.

‘We will soon see progress’

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said investors remain confident in South Africa’s plan to address the power supply issues.

“They are also appreciative of the measures and steps we are taking to repair Eskom. So, our process of repairing Eskom will be ongoing. The unfortunate part is that it affects livelihoods and companies.”

The president said Eskom’s challenges were being addressed within the 10-point electricity crisis strategy, which he announced recently.

“That strategy is being implemented and is unfolding, we will soon see progress,” he said.

In July, Ramaphosa said Eskom would add new generation capacity “on an urgent basis”.

South Africa has currently installed generation capacity of 46 000MW, however, only 60% is available at any given time due to maintenance and unplanned outages.

This means that there’s an electricity shortage of up to 6 000MW.

Ramaphosa said his government’s new measures would improve Eskom’s existing fleet of power stations and increase private sector involvement in generating capacity, among other things.

He also said the measures would transform the electricity sector by allowing businesses and households to invest in solar panels.

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