By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
He was brought in to end load shedding.
But on Sunday, as South Africa returned to extreme load shedding, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa was singing and dancing and having a good time in Dobsonville, Soweto.
Ramokgopa was at an ANC election jamboree where the ruling party reflected on its 2019 election manifesto and claimed to be on track to end load shedding before the 2024 election.
Ordinary families suffered up to nine hours without power in some parts of the country as Eskom implemented Stage 5 load shedding.
The power utility which still relies on 50-year-old coal power stations is now battling to supply enough electricity to meet household demand.
With mines, heavy industries and the manufacturing sector closed for the weekend, Eskom said it had lost at least five power generating units at Kendal, Duvha, Hendrina and Tutuka power stations.
A delay in returning to service generating units at Tutuka and Kendal also added strain to the grid, Eskom said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at the ANC election manifesto review, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised would-be voters that his government would end load shedding before the 2024 election.
“We also committed to grappling with the question of load shedding because it has a negative impact on the economy of our country. We are going to bring an end to load shedding.
“We want load shedding to end and by the time we go to the election, load shedding must be a thing of the past,” said Ramaphosa.
He promised Soweto residents whose transformers had been blown by years of illegal connections that new transformers would be brought in to improve the power supply.
This is despite the township owing almost R8 billion to Eskom, which has already written off R5.3 billion of the R13 billion the residents owe.
“This difficulty you are facing here in Soweto and other townships that have a shortage of transformers will end. Here in Gauteng, Comrade Panyapanya, the premier, said he will get new transformers and get them installed in all townships,” the president said.
Video above: Kgosientsho Ramokgopa was singing and dancing and having a good time in Dobsonville, Soweto, as the country returned to extreme load shedding.
Video source: Twitter
