Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has refuted claims that the EFF’s recent “national shutdown” protest played a role in the suspension of loadshedding this week.
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Eskom announced the suspension of loadshedding from Friday, 17 March until Wednesday, 22 March, citing an improvement in generation capacity. However, it was reported that stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 4pm, and stage 3 will follow until 5am on Thursday, 23 March.
On Monday, as members of the EFF and other political parties staged a “national shutdown” by taking to the streets in protest, the suspension of the blackouts was announced.
As reported in TimesLive, Ramokgopa addressed the media at Mpumalanga’s Duvha Power Station and denied any claims that the suspension of power cuts resulted from the EFF’s demonstrations.
“It has nothing to do with the EFF. It [was] a one-off protest. We will continue for the next seven days uninterrupted going to these power stations and trying to understand the scale of the problem,” Ramokgopa said.
He added, “To get to a stage where people find it very strange to have electricity for a day or two days in succession emphasises or underscores the gravity of the [energy crisis] problem.”
“Our interventions on resolving load-shedding don’t start with the minister of electricity. The energy action plan has been there, all that we are doing is accelerating it and of course, we can see that six power stations are beginning to pick [up and] the energy availability factor is going up.”
Eskom reported gradual but notable improvements in its power generation fleet last week. The power utility stated that six of its coal-fired power stations achieved an energy availability factor (EAF) of 70% over the past week, a milestone that was last accomplished in May 2022.
The three power stations – Camden, Duvha, and Matla – have experienced a sustained upward trend due to a decrease in plant breakdowns and the return to service of several units that were on unplanned breakdowns.
Meanwhile, the other three stations – Lethabo, Matimba, and Medupi – have shown continued improvements and remain among Eskom’s three best-performing power stations.
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