The economy can’t afford more of Eskom’s failures — Ricardo Mackenzie fumes over stage 4 load-shedding

"Come end of January when almost all the industries are opened it will be a movie," predicted one social media user.

Eskom doesn't have an estimated time for restoration but hopes to restore power to most areas by the end of Tuesday. File photo.
Eskom doesn't have an estimated time for restoration but hopes to restore power to most areas by the end of Tuesday. File photo. (Esa Alexander/Sunday Times)

Member of the provincial legislature in the Western Cape Ricardo Mackenzie has added his voice to the frustration over stage 4 load-shedding, claiming the economy cannot handle more failures by Eskom.

The power utility announced the ramping up of rolling blackouts on Thursday. It implemented stage 4 load-shedding from 4pm on Thursday until 5am on Friday. Stage 3 will be implemented until 4pm on Friday, with the pattern repeated until Sunday morning.

Load-shedding has had a devastating impact on people’s lives and cost the economy hundreds of billions.

Taking to social media after Eskom’s latest announcement, a fuming Mackenzie said the country cannot afford more failures at Eskom.

“Half the country is on leave. Millions of children are not in school. Our economy is only opening next week and we already battling stage 4. The year is starting horribly and the economy cannot take more of Eskom’s failures.”

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently said load-shedding has caused significant economic damage in the city, and the priority was to put an end to power cuts.

“Ending load-shedding will be the biggest stimulus for the local economy, and this has been a central feature of our governance programme this year.”

Hundreds joined Mackenzie by voicing their frustration on load-shedding, predicting it will grow worse when some schools and workplaces open next week, and urged the power utility to “get its act together” in 2023.

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