Load-shedding a ‘last resort’, says apologetic Jabu Mabuza

Eskom’s acting CEO Jabu Mabuza on Thursday apologised to South Africa for two days of unexpected bouts of load-shedding.

Addressing a media briefing in Kempton Park, Mabuza said this briefing was not one he would have wanted near the end of his term as acting group CEO.

“I want to take this time to unreservedly apologise to South Africans,” he said, acknowledging that power consumers were given minimal warning about the outages.

Mabuza said the decision to implement load-shedding “was not one that we took lightly”.

He said they were disappointed when the they were left with no option but to cut off the power supply after having experienced a high level of consumption over the weekend, which was accompanied by a high level of breakdowns.

“The decision to implement load shedding was taken as last resort. It was one we needed to take to balance supply and demand...  We understand the impact that comes with load-shedding on consumers and the economy,” Mabuza added.