Eskom has reduced the intensity of rotating power cuts on Friday – South Africa’s ninth straight day of scheduled blackouts – after imports from Mozambique were partially restored.
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In times of crisis – especially with questionable crisis communication from government and Eskom over the past week – humans tend to create their own “reality”, whether grounded in fact or not.
South Africans face another day of traffic snarl-ups and disrupted business with no end in sight for rolling power cuts that started a week ago.
Damage caused by Cyclone Idai to pylons in Mozambique that carry power to neighbouring countries may take weeks to repair, a state power company official said.
Eskom’s rolling blackouts are placing severe strain on mobile network operators trying to keep base stations up and running.
South Africans looking for signs of an end to the latest round of power cuts were left disappointed after the minister responsible for power utility Eskom said he doesn’t have answers yet.
Even at a generous 20GW, the electricity available from Eskom’s coal fleet is barely 52% of the about 38.6GW nominal capacity. These numbers are horrifying.
Eskom has implemented a fifth straight day of controlled blackouts on Monday and will carry out more this week to prevent a total collapse of the electricity grid amid a shortage of capacity.
To reignite growth in a stagnating economy and lower one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, President Cyril Ramaphosa may need to take on the movement he helped create.
Eskom will implement stage-four load shedding until at least Tuesday as the effects of a tropical cyclone in Mozambique and problems at the company’s power plants continue to put severe pressure on the national power grid.