The Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has expressed optimism over a possible end to rolling blackouts in the future.
His optimism comes as Eskom implements lower stages of power cuts during the winter season.
Ramakgopa says, “Unit failures or unplanned capacity losses, you can see now they are coming down. I am not saying it is completely gone but we are beginning to stabilise and that is why you see a combination of that is going to yield results. I am confident on the prospects of us ending load shedding much sooner than anticipated.”
Full interview with Ramakgopa:
Economy
On Wednesday, South African Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago said load shedding has a huge impact on the country’s economy.
Speaking at the SARB Forum in Soweto, south of Johannesburg, Kganyago said due to the impact of rolling blackouts, the country’s economy is now growing at a slower pace.
“Load shedding impacted on economic activity, we expect that the South African inflation, South African economy will only grow by 0.4% this year. If it was not for load shedding, this economy would have grown 2% faster, just like so roughly 2.3 or 2.4%, if it was not for load shedding.”
