Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) CEO, Sy Mamabolo says the Commission is prepared to deal with the eventuality of power outages during the voting process for the local government elections on Monday.
There have been concerns over the Commission’s ability to conduct elections after some parts of the country experienced power cuts last week, prompting an address by Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan and Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter.
Some power cuts were also experienced during the two-day special voting process over the weekend.
LGE 2021 I IEC media briefing
Load shedding made way for voting day capacity
Last week, Minister Gordhan said no load shedding is expected when South Africans go to the polls today for the local government elections.
Speaking alongside Gordhan, de Ruyter 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.
“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,” said de Ruyter.
Gordhan also conceded that more needs to be done to ensure energy security in the country.
-Additional reporting by SABC News
