'Another weekend special provided by Eskom' — South Africans react to stage 5 load-shedding

26 January 2023 - 07:24
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Load-shedding has been ramped up to stage 5. Stock photo.
Load-shedding has been ramped up to stage 5. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/beercrafter

South Africans have again flooded social media in anger and frustration at Eskom, after the power utility announced stage 5 load-shedding on Wednesday.

The country had been battling stage 3 and 4 load-shedding before the announcement that the breakdown of a generating unit each at Camden, Kendal, Lethabo and Majuba power stations had ramped up the restrictions.

“During the same time the return to service of a generating unit each at Matla and Tutuka power stations has been delayed. Two generating units at Kriel, a unit each at Majuba and Tutuka power stations, have been returned to service.” 

Stage 5 load-shedding will run from Thursday morning until Saturday morning.

Stage 4 will kick in from 5am until 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, and increase to stage 5 between 4pm and 5am on both days.

“Load-shedding” and “stage 5" both dominated the Twitter trends list, as gatvol South Africans questioned the breakdown of the units and lambasted the power utility.

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