The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is confident that the end of load shedding in South Africa is within reach.
Briefing the media on Sunday following an implementation of Stage 6 load shedding, Ramokgopa assured the nation that government and Eskom are making long-term decisions in the best interest of the country's power grid and economy.
“At all material points, we will never make expedient decisions at the cost of the grid, because the consequences will be too ghastly to contemplate. That is why it is important that to the degree that we need to initiate load shedding, understanding fully well that is going to deliver a message of an entity and a ministry that essentially is dropping the ball.
“But we are making the point that we will not make expedient decisions. We'll make decisions that are in the interest of the of the grid and in the long term, in the interest of the South African economy,” the Minister explained.
The Minister further reassured the public that there is significant progress in stabilising the electricity supply.
“And I give you the assurance, that point I always make consistently, the end of load shedding is within touching distance,” he said.
New capacity
The Minister highlighted key developments in Eskom's recovery plan, including the synchronisation of Kusile Unit 6, initially expected by the end of February but now scheduled for 9 March.
Medupi Unit 4 is expected at the end of March or early April. These additions will bring 1,600 megawatts to the grid.
"Of course, the Medupi one is what we lost; we are recovering that. The Kusile unit, however, is entirely new capacity. I'm confident that we are moving in the right direction.
“I want to say to the rest of the country, you are going through pain, we understand your anger, we feel your pain, we can hear your cries. We will resolve this problem,” Ramokgopa said.
READ | Load shedding expected to be suspended by the end of the week
Staying the course
Ramokgopa emphasised that government remains committed to the generation recovery plan, which he said is yielding positive results despite occasional setbacks.
“We're staying the course in relation to the generation recovery plan, because that generation recovery plan is giving us the results that we desire. We have accepted that there are going to be setbacks.
He explained that the ongoing maintenance work is a critical part of ensuring that when the government ultimately declares load shedding a thing of the past, it does so with confidence.
“But as I’ve said consistently, when I stood before the nation to give an update on the grid’s performance, I made the point [that there will be] short-term pain, [and] long-term gain. We cannot postpone the maintenance of these assets.
“That’s why we are able to allocate the capital received from National Treasury to ensure that we carry out the necessary maintenance so that when we stand before you … that load shedding is behind us I'm able to speak with a degree of confidence. That is why I have not been able to make that absolute statement, because we have accepted that there are inherent risk in relation to the strategy that we have taken,” he explained.
In response to concerns about Eskom’s operational decisions, Ramokgopa dismissed any suggestions of underhanded dealings, reiterating that all efforts are aimed at long-term sustainability.
"We're not going to do shortcuts in relation to our obligations to the environment. We are committed to ensuring that South Africa’s energy supply is both stable and sustainable. As part of this journey to ensure that we eliminate load shedding, we're going to ensure that we keep to our obligations in relation to the environment,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
