No load shedding ‘not election strategy’
MINISTER of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has shot down claims that “40 days without load shedding” is an electioneering strategy.
His denial follows widespread speculation among citizens that the sudden cessation of power cuts was a result of political pressure and possibly part of an ANC campaign to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply.
“We are in the silly season and there are going to be several interpretations,” said Ramokgopa, who is an ANC member. He insisted there was no correlation between Eskom’s performance and election day, May 29.
“When we ramped up planned maintenance in December and January, little did we know there would be a big date with ballots,” he said.
Ramokgopa updated the media yesterday on the progress of the Energy Action Plan. South Africa has now had 40 consecutive days without power cuts, marking the longest period of uninterrupted power supply in recent years.
Ramokgopa said the stability in supply is due to the solid plan to do away with load shedding. He said they have not used any Eskom turbine as of May.
“These machines are running on their own. I dispel the myth, the insinuation that Eskom is buying itself out of the load shedding situation as a result of political pressure by an incumbent government that wants to perform better come May 29,” he said.
Eskom said the sudden improvement in electricity generation was mainly due to maintenance. Ramokgopa reiterated that the suspension of power cuts was to avoid further damage to the country. Load shedding remains suspended due to sustained improvement in generation and a 4400MW reduction in unplanned outages.