South Africa’s electricity minister apologizes for extensive power outages

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa’s minister in charge of electricity apologized on Monday for the recent increase in power outages in the country, which is currently in the winter season.

“I want to express our most sincere and profuse apologies for having taken you through intensive stages of load shedding (planned power cuts),” Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on television on Monday.

Ramokgopa was appointed electricity minister in March after the state-owned power utility Eskom started long hours of power cuts. The minister apologized for the disruption the outages have caused for homes and businesses.

“Load Shedding is unacceptable,” he said but blamed the long hours of power cuts on a drop in generating capacity caused by bad weather in Gauteng province (which includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria), which experienced snowfall last week.

Ramokgopa added that the electricity demand had increased, disrupting the grid. He explained how solar panels installed on homes and businesses did not function properly, causing home and business owners to switch on the national grid, resulting in high usage, which caused outages.

South Africa faces its worst electricity crisis in decades, with several daily blackouts. Power utility Eskom, which generates over 90% of the country’s electricity, has struggled to meet demand. As a solution, Eskom has been implementing different stages of outages for days.

The utility’s aging power plant array is based on a coal fire, with the facilities needing maintenance.

President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the new electricity minister will work to reduce the severity and frequency of rolling power cuts as a matter of urgency.

Ramaphosa said he expects the electricity minister to facilitate the coordination of the numerous departments and entities involved in the crisis response, including working with Eskom’s leadership to improve existing power stations’ performance and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity.