Ramaphosa only said there would be no ‘planned’ load shedding – presidency

Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko has confronted anger and allegations that President Cyril Ramaphosa broke a promise to the nation when he said there would be no load shedding until January 13, only for it to return on January 4.

Diko’s spin is that the president did not promise there would be no load shedding, and only said no load shedding was “planned”.

“You will remember that the system was stable during the December period. Now what has subsequently happened could not have been planned and that’s why we keep saying that there’s been no planned load shedding as Eskom had committed,” she said.

Ramaphosa promised there would be no load shedding between December 17 and January 13, following a week that saw stage 6 load shedding implemented for the first time in South African history.

The president caused a stir by saying sabotage was one of the reasons stage 6 was implemented at a media briefing he hosted following a visit to Eskom HQ Megawatt Park.

READ MORE: Steenhuisen sceptical of Ramaphosa’s ‘sudden sabotage claims

The claim had not been made before, and had not been cited by Eskom itself as one of the reasons for load shedding in any previous communication.

Ramaphosa said sabotage was one of the factors that led to the latest round of rolling blackouts, along with wet coal, breakdowns at power generating facilities, and system issues.

According to the president, about 2,000MW in lost power capacity was due to the alleged sabotage, which amounts to about two stages of load shedding, though it happened before the utility moved to stage 6.

He said “someone” switched off instruments they shouldn’t have, resulting in power loss.

“I have instructed that the sabotage be investigated and they must immediately work with the South African police service and our intelligence services to find out exactly how anyone with Eskom could have disconnected the instrument that led to the loss of 2,000 megawatts,” he said.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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