Mpho Makwana, the chairperson of Eskom, says South Africans must celebrate the lower stages of load-shedding like stages 2 and 3 rather than always criticising the power utility for the higher stages 7 and 8.
Makwana said this while speaking on Newzroom Africa this week, and suggested that instead of slamming the utility company for what it is not doing well they should hail them for what they are doing well.
Makwana said, “In this period we must celebrate the times when we’ve had lower levels of load-shedding, and there have been many of those when we’ve been on stage 3 and stage 2. We must not just lament stage 7 and stage 8. There’s been days when we’ve had stage 3 and 2.
“If we want this thing to change, celebrate those things that people like [Eskom’s head of generation] Thomas Conradie are fixing, celebrate those things [Eskom’s power station manager] Bheki Nxumalo at Eskom road tech industries are fixing, then we encourage them to do more.”
Eskom announced on Tuesday that load-shedding would be reduced to stage 3 from 5 a.m. on Wednesday until 4 p.m., owing to some improvement in generation capacity during the previous 48 hours. Following that, stage 4 will be applied till 5 a.m. on Thursday.
Eskom said, “This pattern will continue as illustrated until further notice. A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur.
“Over the past 48 hours, the repairs to the damaged towers from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique were completed and restored to full capacity. We have successfully returned to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Kriel and Tutuka power stations.
“During the same period a generating unit each at Lethabo, and two units at Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. The return to service of a generating unit each at Hendrina and Medupi power stations is delayed.
“Breakdowns currently reduced to 13,949MW of generating capacity while 4,322MW of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
“We thank all South Africans for continuing to use electricity sparingly to help alleviate the pressure on the power system.”
Loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 from 05:00 on Wednesday until 16:00. Thereafter, Stage
4 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/id4Vu9wNz7— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 14, 2023
