President Cyril Ramaphosa says all hands are on deck to ensure that the severity and frequency of load shedding is reduced in the immediate term and brought to an eventual end.
The president told MPs on Thursday that electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is responsible for driving the various actions being coordinated by the National Energy Crisis Committee to end load shedding as a matter of urgency.
“The minister is overseeing the full and speedy implementation of the energy action plan to ensure that the severity and frequency of load shedding is reduced in the immediate term and brought to an end within the shortest possible time,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said Ramokgopa conducted a diagnostic assessment of Eskom’s installed generation capacity, resulting in the identification of a set of critical interventions to maximise the energy availability factor of the generation fleet.
The preoccupation of the ministry is to improve the performance of the existing Eskom base load fleet, maximise the performance and output of peeking stations, and reduce demand through an aggressive demand side management programme.
“This work is being undertaken alongside measures to substantially and urgently increase the construction of new generation capacity. The reforms that we have already implemented have resulted in a significant increase in investment in new generation projects, with many more in the pipeline,” Ramaphosa said.
Responding to a question on what government is doing to tackle the alleged corruption at Eskom, Ramaphosa said that no evidence has been presented to him in this regard.
Read: Eskom corruption is killing South Africa
“I have not been presented with any evidence of members of the cabinet or other senior government officials alleged to be involved in corruption at Eskom. Anyone who does have such evidence should provide that information to the relevant authorities so that a thorough investigation of all credible allegations may be conducted,” he said.
