WATCH LIVE: Pravin Gordhan to address SA on Eskom’s challenges

The Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan will on Tuesday evening brief the country on the challenges Eskom is facing.

This comes after Eskom announced that stage 6 load shedding will be introduced.

Gordhan will start his briefing at 4:45pm.

Stage 6 load shedding

Earlier on Tuesday, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha blamed striking employees for the worsening blackouts that South Africa is currently enduring.

“This is due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants. This has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve generation capacity and safeguard plants from damage,” Mantshantsha said.

Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 10pm on Tuesday evening. Stage 4 will then be implemented from 10pm until 12am. Load shedding will then be reduced to stage 2 until 5am on Wednesday morning.

The rolling blackouts will then return at stage 4 until 4pm on Wednesday. Stage 6 will then again be implemented until 10pm on Wednesday evening.

ALSO READ: Eskom implements stage 6 load shedding from 4pm until 10pm on Tuesday

Mantshantsha added that there is a high risk that the load shedding stages may change at any time, depending on the state of Eskom’s power plants.

Striking employees

Earlier on Tuesday, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said the power utility suffered significant losses overnight with 10 generators breaking down.

This added to the complications brought about by Eskom’s striking employees.

De Ruyter said he has been in discussions with National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, who has since deployed public order police officers at the affected sites.