We must celebrate stages 2 and 3 load-shedding, not just lament stages 7 and 8: Eskom chair

Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana says South Africans should celebrate the lower stages of load-shedding instead of criticising the power utility for higher stages.

Makwana, speaking on Newzroom Africa this week, said people should celebrate stages 2 and 3 load-shedding instead of only lamenting stage 7 and 8 power cuts.

“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,” said Makwana.

On Tuesday, Eskom said due to some recovery in generation capacity over the past 48 hours, load-shedding would be reduced to stage 3 from 5am on Wednesday until 4pm.

Thereafter, stage 4 will be implemented until 5am on Thursday.

“This pattern will continue as illustrated until further notice. A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur,” it said.

“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,” said Eskom.