Ad Hoc Committee on Energy: Stage 8 could be death knell for businesses and jobs

25 May 2023

During a meeting of the Western Cape Ad Hoc Committee on Energy yesterday it was clear that South Africa was doomed to face a cold and dark upcoming winter.

Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim indicated that South Africa is facing a ‘difficult winter’ and confirmed that there is indeed a worst-case possibility of Stage 8 rolling blackouts but that a total grid collapse was highly unlikely.

Eskom’s presentation painted a bleak picture as its winter outlook indicate ‘a higher risk of demand and supply imbalance’.

In the event of Stage 8 rolling blackouts South Africans will face 12 hours of blackouts during a 24-hour cycle. This will be an absolutely devastating blow to our economy and may serve as a death knell to businesses and workers who are already facing dire straits.

MPP Christopher Fry said: “The briefing to the Ad Hoc Committee follows Premier Alan Winde, this week, meeting with the mayors of several municipalities across the province regarding the Western Cape Government’s project to pilot the installation of containerised solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and battery storage. This project will put the province on track to becoming South Africa’s first loadshedding-free province.

This is precisely the kind of urgent and innovative approach South Africa needs - not the approach taken by the ANC national government which appears to be more about preventing higher stages of blackouts rather than building energy resilience.”

Issued by Christopher Fry, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Energy, 25 May 2023