Eskom crisis: Ramaphosa blames sabotage, cancels leave
President Cyril Ramaphosa says there has been “a measure of sabotage” behind the latest bout of rolling blackouts.
Ramaphosa briefed the media at Eskom’s Megawatt Park headquarters in Sunninghill after he cut a visit to Egypt short
to deal with the country’s electricity crisis.
South Africans are facing daily power cuts, with Eskom forced to ramp up the load shedding to unprecedented stage 6 on Monday.
Following his meeting with the Eskom board, Ramaphosa said sabotage contributed to the latest round of rolling blackouts.
"What has also come out as a great concern is that there has been a measure of sabotage, sabotage that has led to the loss, during this period, of 2 000MW. Someone in the Eskom system disconnected one of the instruments that finally lead to one of the boilers tripping, and us losing as much as 2 000MW.”
Ramaphosa added that annual leave by Eskom staff and executives has been cancelled to ensure the situation returns to normal.
"From the 17th of December, right through to the 13th of January, we should not be in a position to have any form of load shedding.
"No-one goes on leave if we are to have the system restored to stability… all executives must remain in place and all key managers must remain in place to make sure that we do not have load shedding."
Eskom management will then meet in the middle of January to map the way forward.
READ: Presidency: SA can’t put all its eggs in the Eskom basket