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Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday he cannot say yet when rolling blackouts will end, as power utility Eskom struggles with capacity shortages that threaten to thwart efforts to boost economic growth.
Eskom supplies more than 90% of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its coal-fired power stations, along with low water levels at hydroelectric plants, diesel shortages and loss of imports from Mozambique.
About 17 000 megawatts of Eskom’s installed capacity of 45 000 megawatts was unavailable, Gordhan said.
“Engineers are visiting the power stations themselves to give us an independent view of what is going wrong and how quickly we can repair what is going wrong,” Gordhan told journalists.
“We need to complete these investigations, and we will come back to you in the next 10 to 14 days.”
Eskom has continuously implemented power cuts since Thursday, with up to 4000 megawatts cut from the grid on a rotational basis.
The power cuts have disrupted businesses, particularly the small- and medium-sized firms, and have also prompted frustrations among ordinary people ahead of an election in May.
Apart from faults at the new Medupi and Kusile mega power plants, three other coal-fired plants were suffering severe problems, Eskom executives said.
The executives also said Eskom was expecting to receive a diesel shipment on Friday to replenish its fuel supplies. Eskom burns diesel when it cannot produce enough from its coal plants.
Meanwhile, the situation has been slammed by opposition parties.
Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem didn’t mince his words, saying that the ANC has destroyed the economy of this country.
“Twenty five years ago the governing party inherited a solid infrastructure from the apartheid regime. Eskom is one of such entities that were ranked among the best in the world 25 years ago,” he said.
“It is clear to us that Cyril Ramaphosa, has become a firefighter, who has to dose fire everywhere, fire that has being started by his own party members.”
Bloem blamed the electricity crisis on factional infighting between the CR17 (Ramaphosa) and NDZ (Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) factions.
“Those in control of the machinery at Eskom are linked to Dlamini-Zuma and are busy with sabotaging the operations at the utility. This faction is fighting for the heart and soul of the ANC,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance’s Natasha Mazzone agreed, saying that the ANC had “broken Eskom to the extent that it is on the verge of actual collapse”.
Both Mazzone and Bloem believed that Eskom was broken seemingly beyond repair, and the damage that this will cause would be catastrophic to the South African economy, job creation and to the lives of ordinary South Africans.
“President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister Gordhan and Jabu Mabuza are not only culpable, but they have run out of ideas on how to address the extent of the crisis,” said Mazzone.
“They are quite literally fumbling in the dark for solutions.”
She described today’s announcement as “proof that the ANC cannot and will not keep the lights on – they have neither the capacity, ideas nor the political will to fix the electricity crisis which they have caused. Simply data-dumping PowerPoints presentations on the people of our country will not change this reality,” Mazzone said.
“Continued blackouts like we have seen are causing a jobs blood-bath that the people of this country cannot afford. No investor will touch us as a country with an electricity grid that is headed to a complete shutdown. Very soon rolling blackouts will impact the provision of water and many other basic services. This is indeed a national crisis.”
The DA believed that the generation entities of Eskom needed to be privatised. This would allow a diverse range of energy to enter the grid, increasing competition and lowering costs.
Instead of building the last two units at Kusile, Mazzone said independent power producers needed to be connected to the grid.
“Eskom’s debt is spiralling due to cost overruns on the two big coal builds, while the units are not running at full capacity due to design and build flaws.”
Eskom’s engineering and maintenance employees needed to be classified as an “essential service” that cannot enter into strike action, she said.
Well-functioning metros should be allowed to source energy directly from independent energy suppliers, Mazzone added.
