The Presidency says President Cyril Ramaphosa continues to have faith in the management of power utility Eskom as South Africa continues to endure rolling blackouts.
Eskom implements stage two load shedding on Monday from 4 pm until midnight. This schedule is expected to continue until Wednesday.
Briefing the media in Pretoria, Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told journalists that issues affecting the utility are complex.
“The President still has faith in the management and leadership of Eskom. It will not be prudent to single out an individual at this stage, considering and appreciating the complexity of issues at Eskom, as they’ve been outlined before multiple times. The President has confidence that with the appointment of the new board, the executive management team at Eskom, will have the necessary support strategically,” says Mangwanya.
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South Africa’s electricity crisis is said to be a main drag on the economy, costing the country billions each time Eskom is unable to keep the power on.
The effects of load shedding have been felt more by small businesses that struggle to keep up with the increasing input costs during the rolling blackouts.
The Reserve Bank says it expects the rolling blackouts to shave about 1 percentage point from economic growth this year.
Despite the new interventions to mitigate load shedding like adding new renewable energy capacity, Eskom says South Africa will likely have to put up with the blackouts for the next three years. -Additional reporting by Glorious Sefako-Musi
