'Prayer won't resolve load-shedding': Ramokgopa

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says load-shedding will not be ended “through an act of God”, no matter the amount of prayers. 

He has been visiting Eskom power stations, including Lethabo in the Free State 

According to Africa News, during his visit Ramokgopa said he was optimistic load-shedding would end soon but not because of Easter prayers.

“Load-shedding will not be ended through an act of God. So Easter is coming, irrespective of the amount of prayer that we put [in] it won't resolve load-shedding. It will be resolved by getting the units back online. Load-shedding will be resolved by ensuring we are able to improve the operational efficiency of these units.

“Unserviced electricity is costing the South African economy R500bn a year. We also know from Stats SA that the GDP contraction as a result of load-shedding is about 2.1%. We received statistics just the other day that the economy has contracted by 1.3% on the back of load-shedding,” he said.

Ramokgopa said last week Eskom’s problems at Kusile power station were technical and  not due to corruption. 

“The issues that have been raised with me regarding the units that have gone out as a result of the structural integrity of the chimney and design components have nothing to do with corruption,” he said.

Eskom implemented stage 1 load-shedding from 4pm on Sunday until 5am on Monday. Thereafter stage 2 was implemented from 5am until 4pm on Monday, followed by stage 3 until 5am on Tuesday.

“On Tuesday and Wednesday, stage 1 load-shedding will be implemented from 5am until 4pm and stage 2 will be implemented from 4pm until 5am. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as any significant changes occur,” the utility said.  

“Breakdowns have increased to 15,777MW of generating capacity while 6,122MW of capacity is out of service for planned maintenance. Over the past 24 hours, three generation units were returned to service at Duvha, Kendal and Kriel power stations.

“In the same period, a generating unit at Kendal, Kriel and Majuba power stations were taken offline for repairs. The delays in returning units to service at Duvha, Hendrina, Kriel, Majuba, Medupi and Tutuka continue.”

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