South Africans’ anger and frustration over the utility Eskom’s power rationing known as “load shedding” is understandable, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.
Writing in his weekly newsletter, the president described the outages as devastating for the country and the economy.
Eskom has been struggling to keep the country lit up since the onset of the seasonal heavy rains which started last week. The rains are part of the farming season as well.
Apart from the rainfall, Ramaphosa acknowledged that there were other factors standing in the way of steady power supply from Eskom, the country’s sole power utility.
These included state capture, corruption, loss and shortage of essential skills and mismanagement in the organisation, he said.
The president called on Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan – who said the electricity crisis was manageable – to work together with all stakeholders to end the crisis and to continue giving South Africans regular updates on the situation.
NM/jn/APA