South Africa’s Electricity Minister, Dr Kgosientsho Ramakgopa, has emphasized that the ongoing power outages are severely affecting the country’s economy.
Ramakgopa stated that the power utility spends around R30 billion on diesel to maintain the power supply, and the government is collaborating with Eskom on alternative power generation methods.
During a virtual media briefing on Friday, he announced that 2000 megawatts are expected to be added to the grid by the end of the year. He said:
The point we are making is that there has to be some degree of urgency. We can see some of these projects that they have announced are only connecting end of the financial year, but we need to move with speed and address the issues that constitute an emergency, so that we are able to protect the South African economy.
During his visit to vehicle manufacturers in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Ramokgopa emphasized the importance of preserving jobs and electricity in the automotive industry for its long-term sustainability.
Ramokgopa noted that the stop-and-start power outages are causing workers to lose up to 20% of their weekly wages. Volkswagen has taken steps to address this issue by installing PV and aggressively rolling out digital PV, investing about R70 million to convert the car park to PV. They are also adjusting their production schedule to maximize output.
The power crisis affecting Southern Africa, including South Africa and Zimbabwe, has resulted in power cuts due to a shortage of electricity supply. These power cuts have significant impacts on daily life, businesses, and the economy in these countries.