Eskom, the embattled power utility, today released a statement debunking claims that South Africa faces a total grid collapse because of load shedding that has been pushed to Stage 6 since the cold front moved in.
The power utility says it has taken note of social media posts suggesting the country will soon experience total blackouts.
“Eskom refutes these claims and would like to assure South Africans that there are measures in place to avoid the collapse of the power system. Load shedding is one of these mechanisms,’’ reads the statement.
The social media claims follow a statement by the EFF’s CIC Julius Malema who warned of a total grid collapse at the party’s media briefing in Joburg on Monday wherein he also called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign.
According to Malema the government wasn’t being truthful about Eskom and the utility’s ability to generate electricity and called for Ramaphosa to step down saying his departure would prevent the total collapse of the grid which he predicted would happen in two week’s time.
Malema’s doomsday scenario comes despite Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s assurance that a total blackout is not on the cards and also following what Ramaphosa said last week, that South Africans would be the first to know if their grid was going to collapse.
“There is what you call a reserve margin. It is 2 200 megawatts that are kept at every given time by the system operator in Gauteng. We are highly unlikely to have a grid collapse – a blackout because of that 2 200 reserve margin,” said Ramokgopa when fielding questions in the National Council of Provinces:
Eskom’s interim CEO Calib Cassim reiterated today at the Enlit Africa Conference held in Cape Town, that there are various controls in place and that he will not entertain the subject of an electricity grid collapse.
While Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokoena said the likelihood of total power loss is low due to measures put in place and the entity has contingency plans in place to deal with such an eventuality.
“The grid is by no means at a higher or imminent risk of a collapse and it would take an unforeseen and sudden sequence of events that results in a cascading collapse of the transmission or generation system, leading to a complete loss of supply across the country. Eskom has robust contingency plans in place to deal with such an eventuality,” she added.
Eskom is on Thursday expected to give an update of the power system and share its viewpoint for winter, including plans to avoid higher stages of load shedding.
