SA’s electricity crisis | Gordhan says Eskom will take 2 to 3 years to get glimpse of stability!

As the country has entered a phase of calamity with the implementation of stage 6, Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says South Africa will take two to three years to see relative level of stability.

Gordhan briefed the media on Tuesday evening, on the implementation of stage 6 load-shedding by the embattled power utility.

During his briefing, Gordhan said the industrial action by Eskom employees has exacerbated the situation, and this led to the widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants.

“Unlawful industrial action at various Eskom power stations has impacted planned maintenance and repairs,” said Gordhan.

Amongst other critical points he articulated in his address, Gordhan said systems have been neglected for a couple of time.

“Ageing infrastructure which has not been maintained through the past years, we need new generation capacity as fast as we can to maintain the stability,” he briefed the media.  

The minister said this is the worst-scenario in the history of the nationwide power supplier, and the embattled power supplier will need a lengthy time to maintain its own generated power plants.

The power utility is experiencing an overwhelmingly red high-risk situation, as it is only relying on at least 3,218MW, while 17,621MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

He further unpacked that the government’s stance to cut-off the red tape on private embedded energy projects, will see Eskom bearing the fruits in the next two to three years.

It is expected that the clean-up and recovery work is expected to take place tomorrow, with maintenance activities also expected to resume.

“The goal is to avert stage 6 load shedding on Wednesday, depending on the progress that is made,” informed Gordhan.

The minister said if progress can go according to the plan, Eskom would swiftly move to stage 2 into the rest of the week.

Gordhan also condemned recent attacks on Eskom employees most particularly managers in senior positions, alleging that they have been intimidated in their homes.

“Some Eskom manager’s homes and powers stations were hit by petrol bomb, and another senior manager had her vehicle’s tyres slashed, this is uncalled for and unruly,” said Gordhan.