Outgoing Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has warned South Africans that they must be ready to live with load shedding.
De Ruyter says the load shedding crisis is here to stay for the rest of the year and this comes as contrary to what the African National Congress said.
The ruling party is of the view that the country’s rolling power cuts could be a thing of the past by the end of 2023.
South Africa has been experiencing uninterrupted stages of load shedding since December last year and the power utility told South Africans to brace themselves to be on stage two and three power cuts for the next two years.
Set to leave the embattled power generator next month, De Ruyter said the state of the country’s electricity grid was still unstable.
He added, per EWN, that the state-owned Eskom still needed to beef up its generating capacity if it wanted to put an end to the power cuts.
“Now these issues should be resolved by the end of calendar 2023 and if that’s the case, and it certainly looks like it is doable, then the outlook from 2024 onwards is going to be better. Will load shedding then be definitively a thing of the past? I think not,” he said.
“That capacity is forthcoming. There’s more than 9,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects that are being added to the grid as we speak, with more to come. So, there is light at the end of the tunnel but the remainder of this year is going to be a challenge.”
However, the seasoned CEO concluded by saying that it was possible to fix some of the problems at the different power stations, but that would not end blackouts anytime soon.
In a related article, BusinessTech Africa reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa recently held his fifth State of the Nation Address and there were a lot of major talking points, but Eskom topped the list.
As opposition parties and South African citizens waited with bated breath to hear his plans and ideas as far as unemployment, crime, and the devastating cuts are concerned – the Economic Freedom Fighters were ready to cause chaos.
Led by Julius Malema, the red berets delayed the proceedings as they continuously raised their hands, calling for a point of order until National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula was annoyed and removed them from the house.
