The Western Cape Department of Social Development says it has put several contingency plans in place to mitigate the effects of rolling blackouts at its service delivery facilities.
These include the provision of generators at its centres and facilities and increased social work home visits during scheduled blackouts.
Department Spokesperson, Joshua Chigome, says this is to ensure continuation of social work services and additional security measures across their service delivery points.
“We wish to alert all residents that our services will remain operational during scheduled load shedding (rolling blackouts). However, we ask our clients to be patient with us if they experience delays in accessing services during these times.”
Bidding for IPPs
Meanwhile in Cape Town, the city in February opened the bidding process for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to procure 300 megawatts of electricity.
This was announced by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at the Solar Power Africa Conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Hill-Lewis said electricity procured from IPPs will help to provide an affordable and reliable network of electricity.
In a statement released also in February, Hill-Lewis said: “It has become clear to the City of Cape Town that if we wish to halt the damage caused by Eskom’s monopoly over electricity generation, we have to take matters into our own hands. The only way for us to provide reliable and affordable electricity to our residents is to source it from elsewhere.”
The Cape Town mayor also highlighted implications of the rolling blackouts.
“It should never be forgotten that any load shedding comes at a significant cost for South Africans.”
“Load shedding means real businesses failing. Load shedding means jobs being lost. Load-shedding makes the possibility of meaningful economic recovery ever more remote,” he added.
In the report below, Hill-Lewis says Cape Town aims to be first SA city to be free of rolling blackouts:
-Additional reporting by Corbin August
