Radio Islam International – 2019/03/19

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom board chairperson Jabu Mabuza brief the media on electricity supply problems.

–    Shortage of around 10 000 MW daily.

–    Will have clarity on exact interventions and timeframe in two weeks.

–    Eskom/task team/government hoped to have stabilised grid by end of January, but new challenges emerged.

–    Main issue is lack of maintenance at power stations, not done properly for last decade, now breaking down.

–    Between Feb 2017 and Feb 2018 system tripped  300 times, between Feb 2018 and Feb 2019 it tripped 495 times.

–    Four options: (1) import electricity (2) burn diesel (spent R4,5 bn the last four months to keep turbines going) (3) build new power stations and (4) load shedding.

–    Problems structural, financial, operational.

–    Internal resistance against reform and restructuring process, state capture elements still prevalent.