Public Enterprises, National Treasury to assist embattled Eskom
The Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, met with
the state-owned power utility Eskom over the weekend to address the spate of
loadshedding implemented again since last week.
In a statement, the department says: "National Treasury and the Department of Public Enterprises have committed to assist Eskom to fast-track, with the appropriate oversight, the procurement of essential goods and services that are required to rehabilitate and repair generating units at local power stations urgently."
Gordhan and the board met for some hours over the weekend, during which they were briefed about power supply shortages caused by problems with coal supply and the quality of coal provided to Eskom.
These include the low dam storage levels at hydro-plants, diesel supply shortages both to the country and to Eskom, the collapse of power supply imported from Cahora Bassa due to the natural disaster in Mozambique and many tube failures and breakdowns at local coal-fired power stations.
The department has acknowledged the impact the cyclone in Mozambique and Zimbabwe has caused in both countries.
This resulted in the collapse of transmissions from Cahora Bassa and level four load shedding.
"It is clear that greater urgency needs to be applied to acquire equipment necessary for urgent maintenance. We agree with South Africans that the continuation of frequent load shedding, and in particular stage four load shedding, is unacceptable and disruptive to our economy," Minister Gordhan said.