The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and Eskom has apologised to South Africa for the implementation of loadshedding since Friday afternoon. According to Eskom, the current power cuts have been caused by Koeberg Unit 2, which was taken offline after being brought back on Wednesday, and two Kusile units whose coal operations went sub-optimal following adverse weather in the area.
AN INCONVENIENCE
On Saturday, Ramokgopa briefed the media in Tshwane, where he said he was sorry for the load shedding. "I really want to start by just conveying my sincere apology to the rest of the country for the gross inconvenience caused by load shedding. I have made the point previously that we should never be accustomed to load shedding. It is an anomaly and something we are working very hard to ensure that we are able to liquidate, both as Eskom and as a country, because it is going to stunt the potential for growth and is going to undermine the growth story that the president articulated during the occasion of the State of the Nation Address.'
DISAPPOINTED
Ramokgopa expressed disappointment over the return of power cuts due to unforeseen circumstances. "I really want to say I am exceptionally disappointed about the events that have happened. In the past 30 days or so, in February, we came again on the back of some failures at Lethabo and Matimba, and we initiated stages of load shedding. We are coming back to you a fortnight later to convey again the progress we are making in addressing the most recent setback. If you were to ask me, this is one press conference I do not want to have because we are explaining why there is load shedding. There should not be load shedding in the first instance. We really want to have a conversation around how we are confident about our ability to ensure that we eliminate load shedding once and for all,' he said, adding that though it's management's responsibility to make sure there is no loadshedding, he will not sit back and watch. "Something must give. There are consequences.'
