Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says no load shedding is expected when South Africans go to the polls on Monday for the local government elections.

Gordhan says Eskom is likely to downgrade load shedding to Stage two for the rest of the week. No load shedding is expected over the weekend.

Gordhan was speaking during a virtual media briefing.

“Over the weekend, load shedding – I am told by the Eskom management – will stop. This means that as South Africans go to the polls on Monday and as the counting of votes continues there will be no load shedding unless there is some unexpected event which I am assured by the board and the Eskom management is an unlikely event.”

Gordhan and Eskom leadership briefing:

Eskom CEO on what is causing load shedding

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has outlined the reasons behind the load shedding across the country – saying the securing of power reserves ahead of election day has been among the factors that necessitated the planned power cuts.

De Ruyter was addressing an online media conference along with Gordhan.

“One makes predictions and forecasts the stability of the system as we have seen with some humility and there is always a residual risk but part of the reason why we have load shedding right now is in order for us to replenish our reserves, both from storage as well as our diesel reserves. But that is why we took the decision to implement load shedding right now, it was made specifically with a view of securing supply and capacity during election day.”

More needs to be done to ensure energy security

Gordhan has conceded that more needs to be done to ensure energy security in the country.

“Far more needs to be done as far as the energy system in SA is concerned in order to reach a point where we have energy security which will give rise to economic growth but also the assurances to businesses that they won’t be interrupted by load shedding in any kind of way.”