Load-shedding intensified hours after Ramokgopa applauds Eskom

Hours after minister in the Presidency for electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa applauded employees at one of the best performing power stations in the country, Lethabo, for “good work” done to resolve load-shedding, the power utility implemented ramped-up blackouts.

Ramokgopa visited Lethabo power station in the Free State on Tuesday.

“The last time I was here [March], Lethabo station was number one in the entire fleet of Eskom. If you like, you were the beacon, the shining light, the lighthouse of Eskom,” he said.

Ramokgopa said the station has, however, lost its status of being the best performing station in generating power. He said the drop in Lethabo’s performance was due to two of their units having generation challenges.

“I think you have been very consistent in your performance. I want to acknowledge your contribution and say on behalf of the cabinet that we are exceptionally grateful and proud of the work you are doing at Lethabo to help us resolve the load-shedding problem in the country.” 

An Eskom report presented in parliament on Wednesday stated that over the next 12 to 18 months the entity would be focusing on sustaining performance at  Medupi, Lethabo and peaking stations to increase energy availability factor to 65% by March 2024 and reduce the severity of load-shedding. 

Ramokgopa applauded the Lethabo employees, just hours before Eskom announced a ramped-up load-shedding schedule, which moved from stage 2 on Tuesday to stage 4 in the early hours of Wednesday.

Eskom attributed this to having insufficient emergency reserves and generation capacity due to four power generating units not returning to service.

Eskom’s abrupt implementation of stage 4 stirred a backlash for the minister on social media. 

Disgruntled resident Sibusiso Gigaba wrote: “The truth is we South Africans are not proud and see no progress. Currently as we speak we are in stage 4 load-shedding. It seems we take one step forward and two steps back. The cabinet can be proud of mediocrity, it is used to poor leadership and performance but not us.”

Another social media user, Michael John Louw, said: “Despite recent assurances by the minister of electricity that Eskom had turned the corner for the better, things are now getting worse. Imagine if we were still in the winter months? We would have been on stage 8 or higher.” 

The debate continues on social media:

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