Cape Town power cuts have strong racist undertones, says Cosatu

Cape Town's load shedding schedule has "strong racist undertones", the Congress of SA Trade Unions said on Monday.

Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich claimed power cuts for more advantaged areas took place during off-peak hours while poorer areas were without power at inconvenient times.

City spokeswoman Priya Reddy said the schedule was co-ordinated with Eskom and affected all areas of the city.

"The City of Cape Town rejects any notion that load shedding is determined according to the racial makeup of an area," she said.

"We will in the coming weeks reshuffle the schedule so that different areas experience load shedding at times that are different from the current schedule."